Great Expectations
by HetalianWolfx
Summary: Kuroko was never expected to be amazing, just sit there with life's silver spoon hanging from his mouth. Then there's Kagami, a not so bright guy with life's spoon made of splintering wood. Both search for a more meaningful style of life, will they be able to get along? T for language, now with a Halloween Special!
1. Prologue

**I do not own Kuroko no Basuke or any of it's characters but I wish I did, pic by Kuro-Arisu on DeviantArt**

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Chapter 1: Respect

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Right now all Kuroko wanted was a perfect rhythm.

He wanted to watch that rhythm stop for that moment when it flies through the air and hits the net, hearing laughter and chatter from both winners and losers. This kind of ball was… a lot calmer.

Still, it was what his parents wanted. 'It is about time you dragged in some fine young ladies', they said. It was bad enough that they were pressuring him to get engaged to a long-time friend of his - not to mention that even the pink haired maiden wasn't fully on board despite her infatuation with him.

"Thank you very much. It is my pleasure."

Kuroko's well practiced forced smile was smooth as always as he waved to two young ladies in fine dresses who waved back before giggling to each other and moving along.

For a moment he enjoyed the isolation. Then he opened his eyes to see all the people he didn't know walk around his parent's hall. They would chuckle at stories and hide their laughter at gossip, drinking fine (bitter and tasteless) wine and dance beautiful (dull and uncomfortable) dances. It was pretty much the same as staring at the chandelier, at least when he did that he could have an excuse to cover his eyes. And ears.

" _I_ heard that all their jewellery is actually fake."

"No!"

"Yes! They went to a specialist to have it out of glass."

"Even the-"

"Shh- Not so loud!"

Who cared about that anyway? Whether it's glass or diamond, it all shines the same.

He sighed.

The tux was way too tight; his mother said it would be better to show off his 'athlete's figure'. All it showed was what his parents knew about athletes.

Kuroko had to stop himself from huffing when he reminded himself about sports.

The entire event was made for him by his parents just to hurry up his life. How irritating. Still it's not like they kept an eye on him, even they wouldn't notice if he slipped out - another use for that skill of his. So with one last check of who might be looking, he walked casually to the curtains at the front and slipped into the shadows, out the door in mere moments. Making sure he wasn't sporrted, he made his way down the steps and into the front garden. Once his seclusion was confirmed he took off everything he had, the whole suit. Thank fate he had put those fancy clothes on after his casual clothes, an hour earlier he was calling it a fatal mistake while trying to get some air under his shirt. But now it was much easier to breath – and he wasn't naked, always a plus.

Kuroko folded the clothes and hid them under the same bush he usually did, then with a tug on his baggy white shirt he smiled for real and went off on his way.

It was dark out and the other large houses on the street had most of their lights off – no doubt at his parent's party – but he wasn't staying in this safe neighbourhood. Where shall he go tonight? Maybe for the first time in way too long he could find somewhere to play basketball.

….

"You think you're so smart huh?!"

The cold brick was less than welcoming on the back of Kagami's head as he was slammed against the wall, two hands on his shirt collar and three unhappy guys crowding him. The literal red-head grit his teeth as though he were growling at them, only to groan out as he felt a knee dig hard into his gut. "Gargh!" Needless to say he went limp, not a good start.

"You think just because you cheat in basket ball that you are better than us, huh?!"

Kagami growled and wiped the spit off his face. Then he grinned.

"You got somethin' to say dumbshit?"

"Heh, damn right." He growled. "I don't need to cheat when all I have to deal with is two wimps and a turtle."

"Oooooooo-" The two either side of the one grabbing Kagami's collar made the typical 'burn' noise, the centre one (who was wearing a turtle neck and beanie combo so he was just asking for it) grit his teeth in return.

"You just don't know when to quit do you?"

Kagami couldn't hold back his reaction when there was another hit in the same place, this time much harder by the guy with the bubble gum ball. "Bastard…" He choked, gasping his breath as he grabbed the guy's wrists. He was prepared for a brawl but in the end it was three against one, just as he he ripped the hands off him there a strong punch connected right to his cheek and his head snapped the other direction. He spluttered, feeling blood rush to his jaw and lips before another punch hit him straight in the stomach.

Kicks, punches, no matter how much the red-head tried when he would block or attack he would be caught off guard immediately. He had no choice but to take it, only keeping his pride by barely holding back sounds of pain. Hanamiya just stood back with a smirk, feeling achievement for the beating going on in front of him. It turned to a grin as he saw Kagami start to lose the will to stand. After he ordered the other two to stop it didn't take a second for the red-head to slide down the wall. "Tch, pathetic. Whimper like a cub for us." He laughed and stepped back, his friends following suit as they all gave a creepy smirk. "All that talk and barely a bite, next time don't be such a disappointment."

Kagami made a grunting noise of inhuman level and looked up through a bruised eye at the three turning tail, so proud of themselves like they didn't lose a three on one match.

"You bastards, don't you dare leave before I-" He hissed at them but couldn't finish, coughing up his lungs as they left him alone in the street court.

He slid from his sitting position and grunted as his torso landed on the cold gravel floor. He gave a moment to gather himself together and silently punch the ground until eventually enough time had passed for him to quell his rage. Finally, he sighed and closed his eyes, just listening to the silence as his body got a hold of its beaten state. Aah, so damn embarrassing, lying here feeling sorry for himself like this.

Slowly, he got up with a groan and stumbled away to find somewhere that people wouldn't pass by to watch the black and blue weirdo hit his dumb head against a wall.

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Chapter 1: End

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Thank you for giving this a chance~ This is just a small taster, promise that future chapters will be much more eventful!

Jebus I never expected this to hit 50,000 words, maybe I went a bit overboard :S But let me tell you that it's not massives of rambling, I'm proud of this story and my heart into every chapter, so I hope you've enjoyed this taster and will look forward to any reviews - good or bad. See you guys next chapter~


	2. Greetings

**I do not own Kuroko no Basuke or any of it's characters but I wish I did, pic by Kuro-Arisu on DeviantArt**

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Chapter 2: Greetings from a Stranger

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"…Eh?"

Kagami blinked awake. He shifted on the park bench, groaning as he heard his joints click and knuckles crack with the flexing of his hand.

He hadn't been there long, definitely less than an hour, but other than the starry sky filling his vision the only thing to catch the red-head's attention was a rhythm on cold gravel. That was what probably woke him up, it sounded like something familiar. Wait- it couldn't be, did those idiots leave their basketball there?

Kagami sat up quickly - too quickly for his head, he held it as he sat on the edge of the bench with a grimace on his face. The cool air wasn't the best on his cut lip and bruised face but he wasn't new to the feeling.

As he rubbed a rough hand on his face to wipe away the sleep he felt a damp cold that told him it was probably going to rain soon. No-one would believe that he would predict storms on instinct alone. Despite his torso aching from taking the brunt of the hits he told himself he would be able to grab that ball and make it home before any changes in weather. They better not have come back to get it, if anything a free ball wouldn't be bad as payback.

Though there was confidence in his thoughts he was a little tentative while walking back to the court. It's not like he didn't want to run into them again since he could totally give them a beating like this, it was just too late in the day to run into any more trouble. He grumbled more excuses like that as he pressed himself to a brick wall spy style, peeking through the fence to see who it was making that familiar sound. Then he was struck numb.

There was no-one there.

The sound had completely stopped without him noticing, and no ball was in sight either. Did he get some kind of brain damage from those assholes earlier? Just as Kagami looked away, thinking about giving up on it, he got a shock up his spine as the noise started again. He felt like shouting at the gods to knock it off but elected to calmly look back into the court instead. This time there was definitely something he didn't notice before. Rather than any old suspicious creep or beating-induced hallucination, what he saw was just some random kid bouncing the ball like he was dribbling on a normal court. Ugh, he must have just been tired or something to not have noticed them, plus whoever it was really blended in with the background. At least the ball was easy enough to follow.

The kid took a shot – form well practised, well timed, completely prepared. It barely even reached the net, and they didn't seem surprised.

 _The heck? What's this guy doing in the middle of the night?_

He assumed it was a guy at least.

Before he could think to ask the same question for himself he moved into the court and made a loud sound as he leaned against the gate. Again the kid didn't seem surprised when he looked up to see him. In fact he was kind of expressionless. What made it worse was that the kid's stare was just as creepy as the kid himself. Instead of him being scared, Kagami was the one holding back shivers.

"What do you think you're doing out so late? Gotta be past your bedtime kid." The red-head called, still acting confident.

The kid frowned, holding the ball in his hands as he turned to the new person.

"I am probably older than you." Kuroko replied. "And I can take care of myself."

Kagami flinched from the blunt biting reply, but then walked over with a smirk. "Watcha talkin bout pipsqueak? Little guys like you should be careful without friends in these parts. How can you be so sure you're older?" He taunted and gripped the smaller male on the head with his large hand, only getting a half-ass'd glare in return.

"Because only a young person would be idiotic enough to pick a fight with Hanamiya and his friends. That or you are just an idiot in general."

Kagami's eyes went wide, a second later turning to a glare with a dark smile.

"Oi oi, you'd better not be saying you're those guys' little friend now, _kid._ "

Kuroko didn't bother to frown this time, just hit away the hand on his head after Kagami's grip tightened.

"No, they walked right passed me on my way here. I heard one of them say his name. Besides, after that…" He looked down to the ball and turned it in his hands. "I recognised him from a game; he plays national basketball for his school."

"Is that so?" The red-head frowned and took a moment to watch him.

Now that he thought about it, it was a little weird. Sure the guy was short but no shorter than a lot of people in his year. Since Kagami was used to people being intimidated by his size alone it caught him off guard that he never even looked away from the towering red-head. As well as that, this guy really did have no presence at all. Nothing was noticeable about him aside from being a little creepy - his scent wasn't even strong or weak, just invisible. It was like if his mind trailed off for a second he would forget he was even there. At least he would if he wasn't standing so close to him. Short height, light and baggy clothes, just as light hair and pale skin as well – was he trying to imitate a ghost?

Ugh what was he doing, he didn't have time for this!

"Whatever, just give me that ball."

"No."

"What the heck? That's my payback and I'm gettin' outta here." Kagami growled, threatening to grip his head again but Kuroko kept his cool.

"But I'm not."

"What are you a spoiled brat?!"

There was a flinch at that.

"I hope not. But I don't want to go home yet and the ball in my room was tossed away."

"Ugh what the hell…"

Kagami scratched the back of his head and sighed, only looking up again when he heard the bouncing of the ball start once more.

"If you want this ball, you will have to play for a bit. If you win you get to keep the ball."

"Huh? Play one on one against you? You couldn't even shoot anywhere near the net!"

"Yes. And you can only see properly through one eye after getting your ass handed to you."

Kagami grit his teeth. This kid had a mouth on him as well after all.

"Fine, not like anything's gonna change. First to three wins. That ball is mine."

Kuroko gave a nod of determination and a second later the ball was flying through the air.

The match didn't last long.

Of course the _much_ taller male got the ball first and teased him with it easily thanks to the height difference. He travelled round the court, pretending to taunt him but really testing a bit of his reflexes at the same time until he was unimpressed enough to finish it with a dunk. Another round and Kuroko had the ball – not for long. It got stolen off of him and went through the hoop in one swift motion. The next time was the same as well; Kagami grabbed the ball, shot once but flinched thanks to his wounds and missed. Kuroko did get the rebound but missed as well only for Kagami to dunk it in as soon as it hit the hoop.

It was a short game barely even worth watching but still Kuroko seemed to be breathless by the end, especially compared to Kagami. The red-head would have been completely unimpressed if he wasn't so pleased that he was right about the guy.

"See? I told you kid, the ball is mine whether you use your 'scary eyes' at me or not."

Kuroko just stared back with those blank eyes of his. Finally he caught his breath and gave a light smile.

"Eh? What you lookin' at me like that for?"

"Ah, it's just," Kuroko closed his eyes and straightened out his shirt, "it's been so long since I last played with a real basket ball. And running around was fun too. Can we go another round?"

"What?!" Kagami's eyes widened. He looked like he was about to pick up the kid by his feet. "The ball is mine idiot! I'm gonna play with it when I want and right now I want a cold drink and late night TV." The redhead scoffed and took the ball, grabbing his jacket before leaving the court and heading down the street.

He didn't hear anything of protest from the little guy but he told himself he didn't care.

….

All at once he was alone again. The streets were so quiet; it was a mixture of peaceful and eerie.

Turning a few corners, the red-head moved into the apartment building and tapped for the elevator. As he waited a weird feeling snuck up on his chest.

To be honest it had been the first time in a long while that he had been able to talk to someone who wasn't angry at him for some reason or another, or even be with someone who seemed to be happy about something for that matter. Not counting his team of course. Whoever that was, he seemed… different. _Mysterious_ if you want to talk fancy. Kagami couldn't help but accept that he wanted to know more about him, and that he might never get another chance to.

"Ah whatever, at least I got another chance to beat those bastards tomorrow." He sighed and spun the ball on his finger.

"Challenging them again tomorrow would be a bad idea."

"WHA-?!" Kagami almost tripped over his own feet and rushed to catch the ball before it fell out of his hands, himself ending up inside the opening elevator at the same time. He spun round to see a ghost boy coming out of the shadows. "What the heck are you doing here?!" Pissed off more than anything, he looked over to the kid that had apparently been following him.

"I've been here the whole time."

"No you damn- why?!" He hadn't even noticed him leave the court! Did this guy intend to follow him from the start?

Kagami frowned when he didn't get an answer and pressed his floor number, making a face when Kuroko followed in before the door closed.

"I'm not playing another game with you brat, I told you I was going home."

"And I told you I am not ready to go home yet. And I'm not a brat."

"Tch, bastard, do you want me to rip you a new one?"

Kuroko just raised his brow like he didn't understand – which just irritated Kagami even more.

"Argh, do whatever you want. I'm goin' home."

"I know. You've said that three times already."

"Shut it!" Kagami seethed. He took a breath, and then exhaled. "Fine, if that's how you're gonna play…"

Silence filled the cubic room. They stood beside each other, both staring at the door. The red-head tried to hide his restlessness. Lights filled up the buttons one at a time without pause until the only light was on the originally pressed button. Slowly the elevator came to a stop and the doors began to open.

Kagami bolted.

He jumped out, turned on his heels and launched himself down the hallway, not caring what his neighbours would have to say about him stomping outside their doors. The ball was in one hand while the other got his keys out early as he got closer and closer to his door, the air rushing past like a high speed chase. As soon as he made it to the goal he stumbled to a stop before unlocking the door easily. Not even trying to open the door wide enough for comfort, he slipped in and slammed the door shut without a second thought. At last all was at peace, he leaned against the door and sighed as he finally got to rest.

"Bastard, what was his problem?" He grumbled, holding his head.

He listened for a moment longer and turned around to face the door. His fingers twitched, telling him this wasn't over. His gaze turned to a glare, he even gave a snarl.

Eventually he gave into his instincts. He opened it only a crack and peered out to see if the guy was still there. "…Huh?" He opened the door just a little wider so that he could stick his head out. No stalker kid to be seen. With a sigh he shook his head and shut the door before starting to walk in like nothing had happened. "He finally gave up. Sure hope I don't run into him tomorrow."

"You probably won't."

A violent shock ran quick through his whole body – the stalker kid was right behind him!

"YOU, WHAT, HOW-"

"I predicted that you would run, and I'm good at slipping through tight spaces." Kuroko stared like it was nothing creepy at all. "Thank you for opening the door for me, you would have been too fast for me."

Kagami just stood there, speechless. He had been standing right in the middle of the opening in the door, but he still managed to slip by him when he was literally looking for him?

This guy… could not be good news.

"You know what-" The red-head opened the door and grabbed the stoic ghost by the collar, pushing him out the door and literally holding him off the floor since Kuroko refused to put his feet down. Kagami could just feel how much enough of this he'd had. "I'm not gonna hold my arm out forever, hope you like broken kneecaps kid."

"Wait a moment please."

Kagami made a face as the shorter boy clutched his wrists and tried to look at him over his shirt.

"I won't make a mess and have no intention of stealing; I really can't go home right now. There are… family issues."

Whether it was a good or bad sign there was silence between the two for a long moment. Kagami stared at him with a weird sort of glare, maybe testing whether or not he should believe him. On one hand this was a kid who silently stalked him back to his home. On the other the look in his eye was different to the blankness that he saw before. Eventually the red-head just sighed.

"Jeez." He growled as he threw him back inside. "I think you have more than just family issues. Take your damn shoes off."

Kuroko stumbled but managed to catch his balance quickly.

"Thank you."

He smiled lightly and watched Kagami walk in as he took off his shoes. He hoped the other wouldn't notice how fancy they were compared to the rest of his outfit but he was too distracted by how grateful his feet were to be free of them.

For the first time the blue haired boy looked around to see where he actually was. The place was surprisingly big; it looked kind of dull until the lights were turned on. Compared to its owner the place was actually sophisticated and overall relaxing to look at. The space was at least, but in actuality there was barely anything around apart from in the well-used kitchen and the clean bathroom. No fancy ornaments, nothing incredibly expensive looking overall, he actually found himself surprised that there were only useful things as far as he could see. Kuroko watched his host for a moment longer as the red-head sighed and threw his jacket over the nearest couch, then collapsed onto it with a sigh and turned the TV on.

"Oi, if you're going to hang around make yourself useful and get me something to drink from the fridge."

"Ah, sure." Kuroko removed himself from isolation and moved over to the kitchen. He found a surprise when he opened the fridge and picked up a bottle to look at. "Beer?" He raised a brow. "Do your parents let you drink this?"

"Not up to them. I live alone."

Kuroko frowned slightly and looked over to the other but was distracted again when he saw Kagami reach up with a grabby hand. He didn't have confidence in his tossing skill so just went over to give it to him.

"So you decide what is in this house?"

"Err, I guess? I can only afford the bare necessities. Everything you see here came with the house; parent's allowance only gives me enough to get by."

"I'm amazed you have survived."

"Oh Yeah? Why's that?" Kagami said boredly as he opened the bottle and took a drink.

"Because you are a young idiot."

"PFF-" He almost choked. "How many times you brat, I'm not younger than you!"

"And I am not younger than you, so this situation is impossible."

Kagami rolled his eyes and decided to ignore him, flipping the channel from the sports network that was only showing tennis while mumbling something about 'pansy sports' in a language Kuroko didn't know very well.

Seeing that there was nothing interesting happening on the screen Kuroko wandered off for a moment, only to come back later with a towel in his hand. He held it like a sack and slowly leaned over before pressing the large part of it onto the red-head's cheek.

"BWAGH!" Kagami scrambled away and glared at him with disdain. "What, the hell."

"I saw ice in your fridge. If you don't do anything about it you're going to be walking around with a closed eye and purple cheek tomorrow."

Kagami narrowed his eyes at him. But, to his own surprise, rather than arguing this time he swiped the make-shift icepack and grumbled as he put the cold to his cheek.

Kuroko stared as Kagami flipped through channels, both staying silent for now. He watched him lean back and stare at the TV, relaxing, continuing despite him. A part of him wondered if he had forgotten he was there already. "I'm not sure how to enjoy a beer in the middle of the night." He spoke up. "And whatever age either of us are I doubt you would be able to legally buy that."

"Huh? Oh. One of the seniors in the basketball team bought me a ton for winning an eating competition."

"Basketball team?" Kuroko seemed especially interested in this.

"Yeah, at my school." Kagami paused and stared at the bottle. He shook his head. "But, I'm thinking of quitting."

"…Why? You beat three people who play on national level easily and suddenly basketball isn't fun anymore?" Kuroko was trying his hardest not to think of the people he used to call friends.

"Nah, I could never hate basket ball." Kagami gave a smile for as long as the thought lasted. "But, our team keeps on getting beat by these guys from some posh-ass schools and if we don't start making it big I wont be able to rely on basketball forever. Everyone's bugging me about my studies and stuff; it's hard to keep doing what you love when the world doesn't want you to."

Kuroko's gaze lowered. He knew that feeling all too well.

"Well, whatever." The red-head sighed as he continued. "Everyone on the team keeps saying we need a push, something to break through the line. But without that guess there's nothing I can do."

For a moment there was silence.

"I can do it."

"Hm?"

"I can help you win if you want."

Kagami stopped what he was doing, looked round and gave Kuroko a glare.

"Bullshit. You can't shoot for shit."

"Yes, but my skills aren't in that field."

"There is no way I will believe you can dunk."

"No, not that either. It is hard to explain without showing you."

"Right, sure."

Kagami didn't look very convinced as he looked back to the TV. Kuroko frowned.

How could he convince him…?

"The 'rich guy' teams, is the captain of one of them Akashi Seijuro?"

"Huh? Yeah I think so, haven't played 'em yet. How did you know?"

"I am on his team." He was going to say 'was' but he wanted to convince Kagami as best he could.

Neither of them moved.

"No fucking way."

"Yes."

"You?"

"Yes."

"You're lying. That's the best team in the country, and like I said you can't play for shit."

"If you don't want to even try then that's your loss."

Kagami frowned, staring daggers at the kid.

"If you want to keep playing basketball, I want to help you." Kuroko stared back.

Their glares showed very different levels of trust. Taking such a wild swing in the dark, Kagami had a bad feeling that he should think about the offer more than just him 'wanting to help'. He was just too… ghostly.

Kagami turned back to the TV, still silent for just a moment longer.

"Do what you want…"

This time it was Kuroko who was surprised. That was a tone he had never heard before; he didn't know what to think about it. In the end there was nothing he could do, so for now he just went round to sit on the couch with him.

The sound and light from the box was just barely enough to keep them both from closing their eyes. Maybe it was getting late after all.

"My name is Kuroko Tetsuya."

Kagami blinked and looked over to see the other still just staring at the TV. He paused and then looked back as well.

"Kagami Taiga."

 _Taiga._

 _Tiger?_

"You're a cat."

"Where the hell did that come from?!"

Kuroko couldn't hold in his smile.

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Chapter 2: End

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Gaaaaaaaaaaagh I cant believe I got favs and follows after just the first chapter! I'm so happy TTuTT

Thanks for taking a read guys, hope I captured the characters in-character enough since it's a little hard when swerving away from the canon storyline.

If you've got something to say please make sure to review so that I can improve future chapters, and I shall see you for next week's upload~


	3. Ghost

**I do not own Kuroko no Basuke or any of it's characters but I wish I did, pic by Kuro-Arisu on DeviantArt**

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Chapter 3: A Ghost Boy Is Following Me

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If he said that sleeping in the same house as a stranger who snuck in like magic and whom he knew nothing about – or even why he was there – had made him lose sleep, Kagami would actually be lying.

For some reason the hardest part was just getting into bed. He was just too frustrated, having a hundred thoughts run through his head in the dark. He tried to figure out if the guy really was from the team he had only heard rumours about, whether or not he was telling the truth about wanting to help just because Kagami wanted to play basket ball.

Actually, now that it was morning, where the heck was that guy?

"Jeez, he better not've stolen anything expensive…" Kagami growled as he got out of bed and ruffled his hair in the mirror until it was just right.

Almost not wanting to see what awaited him, Kagami glared in advance as he slowly twisted the knob of his bedroom door. It let out a small creak as it opened enough for him to peek through. To his surprise the only thing that was out of the ordinary was the chopping sound coming from the kitchen. He frowned, opening the door more and looking over.

There he was, the same kid from the night before, in his kitchen casually chopping something.

Kuroko glanced up from the counter to meet his scowl.

"Good morning Kagami-kun." The shorter male gently bowed his head before returning his attention to chopping.

"Tch." While Kagami was glad nothing seemed to be broken or stolen, a part of him was a little aggravated that there was still a weird kid in his house. "What are you, a house wife?"

"I am a boy and unmarried."

"I know that you idiot." Kagami stepped into the room.

Kuroko didn't even change his expression as he simply focused at the task at hand; only making Kagami more pissed about how calm the guy was about all of this.

Now that he saw him in daylight he could tell that it wasn't just his imagination. This short guy with weird colour hair – not that he was anyone to talk – really looked like he was a freaking ghost. Plus definitely few years younger than him. It couldn't be his natural hair colour, but Kagami didn't want to get into anymore conversations with him then he needed to so just shrugged it off and went to grab his books.

"I'm leaving soon. After breakfast I'm kicking you out."

Kuroko looked up again as he was addressed.

"Where are you going?"

"School dumbass, I might be definitely older than you but I'm not that old."

"Oh." Kuroko frowned a bit and stopped what he was doing. Obviously he had forgotten about a little thing called 'education'. Would there be many more consequences if he continued with this?

"Yeah, so get outta the way. I'm hungry."

Kagami walked towards the kitchen while stuffing his books into his bag but was interrupted when Kuroko walked out with two plates.

"I have made breakfast."

On both plates were boiled eggs, one each plate, chopped up to look all fancy. The presentation was nice and all, but…

"You're kidding right?"

"No. I have not been able to learn how to cook many things but no-one makes a better boiled egg than me." Despite having no expression he was sure Kuroko said that with some kind of pride.

"Alright, I guess, but where's the rest of it."

"This is it."

Kagami made a face. Kuroko was serious; there was a hint in his eyes, and it made Kagami just sigh. He should know by now that this guy's answers were never any help unless he kept pressing him.

"Never mind. Get out of the way."

He shoved Kuroko lightly made his way into the kitchen, grabbed the apron on the hook and washed his hands.

"W-Wait-!" Kuroko turned fully. "Don't bother – I will try to cook something else. You don't have to cook for me."

"Shut up already." Kuroko was silenced. "I'm cookin for _me_. Besides, that's not all you're eating is it?" Kagami didn't show any polite expression but his words seemed a little different. Kuroko looked down at the plates with slight surprise. "Just sit down already, shouldn't you be getting ready as well?"

Kuroko paused.

"I will go to school with you."

"Huh?!" Kagami stopped to look at him, but once again the boy was just staring back with those cold eyes like he said nothing out of line. "Oi oi, don't you think you're pushing it a bit here you little punk?"

"Not really."

"You-!" Kagami took in a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. There was only so far this could go so he decided to take a chance. "You know what, fine, I don't care. Anything to get you out of my house."

True there _was_ a spare seat in his classroom, but this kid couldn't actually be serious, could he?

While he got back to cooking Kuroko went to put down the plates with an accomplished smile.

A few moments later Kagami came walking out of the kitchen with two more plates filled with all sorts of meats.

"Alright, _this_ is what you have for break-" He stopped. "fast…"

Silence.

He was alone again.

"Are these old?"

"GYAGH!" Kagami tried not to drop his food in one of the most dramatic ways possible. When he was steady he spun around to find Kuroko coming out of his bedroom – of all places.

"YOU-! How do you freaking do that?!" He thought it had turned quiet, but he just expected the guy to be that way since he was A FREAKING GHOST.

"I did nothing."

"I swear…" Kagami took a second to bury his after-shock rage then went over to the table and put the plates down with an irritated 'clang'. "What old thing were you talking about?"

"These clothes." Kuroko held out a shirt, jacket and slacks that were the uniform for his school destination today.

"YOU WERE SERIOUS!"

….

They sat on opposite sides of the table with the meat dish as a main and egg dish as a side along with two glasses of water.

"Kagami-kun…"

"What is it?"

"You eat way too much."

Looking at both of their plates one would think they couldn't possibly be eating the same meal. While Kagami's plate was almost clean, Kuroko had finished eating and hadn't even made a dent.

"You eat way too little! No wonder you look like a kid, you were just gonna eat one fancy boiled egg for breakfast!" That sentence somehow seemed to make Kuroko's eyes sparkle. While it wasn't necessarily a bad thing it sent shivers up Kagami's spine just from the sheer suddenness. "What's that look for?"

"You admitted I'm not actually a kid."

"Wha- I didn't."

"You did."

"I-" Kagami stuttered, trying to think up some excuse. Unfortunately he wasn't smart enough to keep up the bully charade and in the end he just looked away. "Shut up."

If he wasn't so stoic Kuroko would have laughed, but at least it showed in his smile.

"Because of that I will eat more."

"G…Good." Kagami looked back with the slightest flustered blush creeping up on his cheeks. With a huff he continued his own mouthful.

As Kuroko chewed his food he stared at the red-head for a moment, wondering how someone so like a wild cat could eat so much like a squirrel.

After breakfast was changing and at least Kagami's guest seemed sharp enough to go into a separate room to do that. The uniform was a little baggy on him but it seemed Kagami had grown since he first joined the school. Either that or he hadn't bothered to measure his sizes right the first time. Probably the latter. Either way it didn't bother him, it's not like he intended on being noticed today anyway so being a little shaggy just made him look more cool when the breeze passed by.

Kagami couldn't do anything but carry on as usual, though the notion that someone was following him every step of the way wasn't exactly a calming one.

….

"Just how long are you going to keep this up?" Kagami asked, bag hunched over his shoulder as they walked down the road towards Seirin High.

"What are you referring to?"

"You can't stay around me forever. What was this family problem of yours anyway?"

Kuroko didn't reply.

Kagami glared at the other interrogatively but the ghost kept his eyes in front of him, even though he was walking a little behind the red-head.

Admittedly he couldn't help but be bothered by how out of placed the shorter guy looked, being so light coloured compared to everything else that ever existed and so silent as well, but as they got closer to the school and more people came down the streets Kagami noticed two things. One was that no-one seemed to even spare the ghost a glance, and two was that Kuroko was staying quiet so that he wouldn't have to reply until there were too many people to talk about the previous subject anyway.

"Tch, fine. I'll get the answer eventually."

Just like every other extra-ordinary day Kagami awkwardly made his way into Seirin high, looking over his shoulder every other step of the way.

It didn't get any better for him.

It was bad enough that everything about Kuroko was ghost like, but no-one even mentioned that there was a mysterious boy sitting right behind Kagami in the empty chair for every class. True he was in uniform and didn't cause any trouble, but what pissed Kagami off the most was that Kuroko wasn't surprised or even relieved in the least that no-one called him out. Strike him where he sat if he said that he didn't want to turn around and out the guy. Sadly, no matter how rough he spoke to him when they were alone, they were in school now which meant 'focus on your grades or coach will kill you for having to trade practice for studying'. It wasn't until after the day was over that Kagami even brought it upon himself to speak to him again, since all through lunch and break all Kuroko did was explore by himself with a book in his hand. Admittedly it was quite amusing for the red-head when he heard a few girls gossiping about "the person who appeared at the back and walked out the door" during lunch. As he led over to the gym Kagami pulled something out of his bag.

"Here." The red-head shoved something soft onto him. "You can't do practice in uniform so this is the best you got. Don't expect me to remember for you next time though."

Kuroko looked up to see his own clothes from the morning folded in Kagami's hand.

"I'm glad you believe in me enough to think there will be a next time, Kagami-kun." He smiled as he gratefully took them under his arm.

"In your basketball skills? No, I believe that I have a stalker named Kuroko who does whatever he wants."

Even though he said that, for once he wasn't shouting. That was enough to give the ghost boy confidence.

….

"LIIIIIINE UP!"

The whistle blew and all players staggered towards the usual line as they always did after warm up. Each player looked their part, tall manly guys with a bit of muscle mass here and there, and they all listened like soldiers as a fitting coach stood before them.

"Now that everyone is here we're going to split off into teams." Riko called out. She put the whistle in her mouth to certify her order but stopped to look unimpressed as Kagami walked towards her.

"Oi coach, I brought someone who wanted to try out the team. Says he can do a good job."

"Right before a practice match?" The coach stared suspiciously. "Alright, fine. Where is this mystery person?"

"I'm right here."

All eyes turned to the boy that had suddenly appeared beside the coach.

"K… KYYAH!" Riko almost tripped over her own two feet. "H-How long have you been there?!"

"Since I entered the gym. Bakami-kun told me I should talk to you so I've been trying to get your attention."

Riko couldn't respond as she tried to figure out if the boy had really been there all that time while Kagami got pissed off at his new nickname. After a moment more of eyes like dinner plates she shook her head and hid away her fright. She seriously didn't notice him; there was no way he could have been there before. No- wait, before that didn't Kagami say that he was going to try out?

"Where did you pick him up from? And you really want to run about in those clothes?"

"Yes."

"I didn't 'pick him up' from anywhere. He won't stop following me." Kagami sighed and stepped towards the ghost, only for the captain – who looked a little suspicious of the newcomer – to beat him to the punch.

"So he's a stalker." Hyuuga approached Kuroko with a glare that would make a more expressive person flinch.

"Uh, not exactly." Kagami contradicted his earlier words with an awkward scratching of his neck. "Just put him in practice and he'll go away if he's crap. Right?"

"I will." Kuroko nodded in agreement.

The coach and captain looked to each other silently. With a single hand gesture Riko called him over a little away from them. They talked amongst themselves while Kagami tried to keep his glare at Kuroko silently creeping him out with his own blank stare. Then – in unison – the coach and captain sighed.

"One game, that's all you're getting." Riko called with a point and flourish of the hand. "We're a serious club, so if you're gonna help us make it to the nationals then prove it!"

Although he should probably be intimidated Kuroko was quite obviously happy with the result.

"Thank you. I will try to not embarrass myself."

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Chapter 3: End

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Good news! I've realized letting out one chapter a week will make the continuity of the story a little hard to follow, so I will be releasing two chapters a week! One every Friday and one every Monday.

Thank you to the reviewer whom is my first ever since making this account, any reviews bring me a lot of joy but yours was particularly special and heart warming for my first story review~

Come back next chapter where Kuroko shows his stuff!


	4. Shine

**I do not own Kuroko no Basuke or any of it's characters but I wish I did, pic by Kuro-Arisu on DeviantArt**

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Chapter 4: Shine A Little Longer

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Kuroko was on his knees, panting. Sweat covered the floor where his palms balanced his torso and his cheeks were red with exasperation.

Admittedly he expected this, but he didn't expect the feeling of others watching him to be so unfamiliar. He had been put straight into a team on team match, and it wasn't until close to the end that everyone was noticing something strange happening. As the game ended with a surprising finish it seemed a few of them figured out vaguely what was so different.

"What was, what was that?" Hyuuga blinked with wide eyes. He didn't want to admit it, but he was impressed.

"Oi, Kuroko."

The ghost boy looked up to see a much less out of breath red-head staring down at him. He gulped down his dry throat and wiped the sweat off his chin.

"What is it, Kagami-kun?"

"What the hell was that? One minute you were one place then you were somewhere else! Was it you that kept passing to me?"

"Yes. You were quite fast enough for me to direct to accurately." Kuroko bowed his head slightly in thanks.

Kagami frowned at him while Riko and Hyuuga spoke quietly a little further away. He still didn't quite believe it from such a feeble guy. At first his expression just showed his surprise and disbelief, but then it darkened just a little as he looked down at him.

"Still… everything else about you was so pathetic, is that really all you can do…?"

Although Kagami's voice was quiet Kuroko heard the words loud and clear. They struck him speechless for a second. He looked down and didn't let it show.

"Oi, new guy." The captain called him over and with some difficulty Kuroko snapped out of it and stumbled towards him. "What's your name?"

"Kuroko Tetsuya."

"Kuroko…Kuro,ko…" Hyuuga played with the name and looked to Riko.

"You couldn't be, the guy who played in Teiko are you?" She spoke in confirmation for his thinking.

"Teiko?" Kagami frowned at that.

"The legendary basket ball team? You can't have not heard of it."

"Hey I only just came back into the country this year, gimme a break."

Riko held her head with a groan. Thankfully Kuroko seemed willing to answer.

"Yes. I was a regular by the end of my first year. That was when I played with Akashi and the others." He glanced to Kagami with as much as an apologetic face he could muster (meaning there was no change to his expression). "Sorry I lied to you. The truth is I haven't been able to play for the last 6 months. I'm glad I haven't lost my touch."

"What touch?! You ran out of breath from the word go!"

Kuroko neither confirmed nor denied that statement.

"That doesn't matter now." Riko sighed. "What does matter is your skills are for real. I guess you were that 'phantom sixth man' or whatever the legend says, but more importantly our advisor tells me that you're not listed in this school. Even if we want to put you on the team you wouldn't be able to play in official games."

If he looked around the ghost would have seen a few disappointed faces. Turns out one of the 'miracles' were just what they needed. Kagami on the other hand was adamant. Sure he wanted to keep playing basketball but this guy had caused him a lot of trouble, anyway who's to say Kuroko would even be able to keep up enough to use this misdi-whatever it was that had been explained while he wasn't listening.

"I can do it."

Kuroko caught their attention once again.

"I'll find a way. I have… connections."

Kagami's eyes widened.

That look on Kuroko's face, he had barely changed at all but somehow the way his glare shot at Riko made him seem more than just determined.

"This is the team I've been searching to play for."

All the nuisance and mystery of the guy disappeared, now just leaving nothing but Kuroko. The small, stoic person, Kuroko.

Riko too was left a little shocked, but sure enough she soon found her voice.

"Well… I can't think of a way to help but, it was pretty impressive watching you out there. If you really are a member of the miracles and manage to sort this out yourself then I don't have any objections about letting you on the team."

"Thank you." For a brief moment a small smile crossed Kuroko's expression, though it left as he spoke again. "But in return I would like a favour."

"Hm? What's that?"

"I would like to be able to stay practicing here a little longer after practice is over today."

….

"Well that was a good first impression for a dimwit."

"Thank you."

"That wasn't a compliment."

"That's up to interpretation."

Kagami was agitated.

For some reason the fact that the guy next to him was paying more attention to his book than his complaints made it worse.

"So, I took you to school. Happy now?"

"Yes. It was very interesting; apart from things like mathematics and the core sciences you learn very different things than I do, Kagami-kun."

"Yeah yeah, and I gave you a place to stay _and_ breakfast."

"I am grateful to you for putting a blanket over me when I fell asleep and placing a pillow under my head. You still didn't have to give me breakfast."

"If I didn't then you would've passed out on the court dumbass, you didn't even eat lunch."

"Thank you for noticing my health like a true friend."

That comment certainly caught him off guard. Kagami flinched as he felt some kind of nervousness. He tried not to feel appreciated.

"Tch- _like I was_ _saying,_ it's time to shove off. You only had your clothes with you and you're holding them under your arm right now. I don't care if you keep the uniform but I'm not gonna keep baby sitting you. Actually wait a sec- where the heck did you get that book from?!"

Kuroko looked away from the page, giving a peculiar glance as he stared at the red-head.

 _I want to have more._

"I might as well walk with you back to your apartment. That way I can find the park back from there and then get home."

The only way his parents would know he was gone would be if they either listened to the door maid for once or his school called. Either way if it had happened it was unavoidable now. In all honesty he didn't want to ever find out, but as Kagami said he couldn't keep on getting baby sat.

Kagami groaned and rubbed his eyes.

"Alright alright, but first I'm going to majiba. I want a bite."

Kuroko blinked in interest and lowered his book. "…Majiba?" He spoke low in case he gave any intrigue away.

All the way to the burger joint Kuroko was slightly more fidgety than he had been for the whole day, anticipation bugging him until finally he saw it. This was the fast food chain restaurant he had heard so many bad things about. Should they really be eating here? Well it was pretty normal for high school students; there were already a bunch of them hanging around the place from more than just Seirin high. At least that meant this place probably didn't have a bad reputation over here. Still he didn't really know how it worked; apparently it was very different to the places he went to eat with his family.

"12. Any drink to wash it down too, I don't care what. Please."

"K-Kagami-kun…"

"Huh?" The red-head looked round to the guy behind him, earning a few looks from people realizing that there was actually a person there. "What is it?"

"That is way too much."

"Says you, I can't be asked to come back up just to order more."

Kuroko didn't try to argue, but he did feel a strange intimidation when he actually saw the intense burger mountain that arrived on the tray. He could only imagine how much worse it could be on Kagami's especially hungry days.

Since he didn't have any money Kuroko just followed the taller male to a table and sat opposite to him with his book. He didn't expect any conversation and was definitely-maybe not tempted to watch the red haired beast devour all of those by himself.

"Ah dammit." A sigh from Kagami made him glance away from the page. The red-head was dangling the large cup loosely in his hand. "Bastards could've picked anything, milkshake is too cold for today. I guess they're having trouble selling the vanilla lately…" He waved it from side to side absent-mindedly as he talked to himself.

Kuroko slowly tensed up.

Milkshake. Vanilla. Vanilla milkshake. His eyes sparkled as he stared at the drink that had increasing likeness to a pendulum.

"Hm?" Kagami couldn't help but notice the change in his companion, suddenly confronted by the sight of such a wide eyed innocent expression. "Urr, do you want this?"

Kuroko's sparkling eyes looked up to Kagami in a way that made the red-head jolt back in his seat.

"H-Here…"

Like an animal testing new territory Kagami tentatively put the cup down before him, watching as Kuroko followed it with his eyes. Neither of them moved for a moment. Finally Kuroko finally managed to regain his composure enough to calmly put down his book and take the drink in both hands. He slowly moved the straw to his lips, the red-head's eyes never leaving him. Watching him almost eagerly sip up the vanilla goodness, Kagami felt like he was witnessing a sight never discovered before.

The look on his face was almost… cute.

Kagami shook his mind of that thought. But even then he couldn't help a small smile as he picked up another burger. Maybe this kid wasn't so bad after all.

"Kagami-kun."

He stopped mid-bite and looked up to find Kuroko snapped out of his vanilla-induced trance, the wonder in his eyes gone just for now and replaced with an especially honest look.

"Thank you, for everything. This certainly has been an interesting less than 24 hours."

"Yeah you're telling me…" Kagami grumbled and swallowed his mouthful. "Well, I guess this won't be the last time I see you, given that you're coming back to practice and all. So," he took a deep breath, looking away as he forced himself to say it, "I'm, glad you came today."

As soon as the words left his mouth Kagami awkwardly stuffed his face once again, never looking back to Kuroko who stared at him in surprise. It wasn't too long until his stoic expression melted into a smile.

"It means a lot to hear you say that."

With a strange mood that was new to both of them clinging onto the atmosphere, they continued their separate meals. Although not another word was said until they finally departed, the silence felt strangely warm.

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Chapter 4: End

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I sometimes think I have too flowery a way of saying things, and that sometimes people have no idea what I'm trying to portray :P If that's the case leave a review so that I can actually make sense!

I hope you continue to enjoy, and don't be afraid to review any criticisms that might help me improve future chapters for you lovely people!


	5. Difference

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Chapter 5: The Difference Between Us

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 _I believe I am not getting enough exercise to stay healthy. There is a well equipped gym at this school, I know the hours where no-one will see me but I still need to be connected to the school in order to use it._

 _No, bribing will not work for this particular situation. All I need is my name registered for the school._

 _I understand._

 _Thank you._

….

"Eh? Seriously?" Kagami almost jumped back in surprise. "You're not pulling my leg right now?"

"I'm not."

"Ah jeez, so you really are older than me…"

"That is correct."

"Tch, what a pain. I've already labelled you as 'that stalker kid' in my head."

"That is rude, Kagami-kun."

The two chatted about how small their age gap really is as they walked into the hall.

Even though the last time they talked was the day they had met, only a week ago, it seemed easy for them both to talk to each other like old friends. It was a given that after the first shock of seeing a ghost suddenly next to him Kagami would walk him to the gym.

"Oh, you two!" The captain looked over as they came in. "You really came back huh?"

"Yes, thank you for having me." Kuroko nodded and gestured to his shorts and shirt. "I hope these clothes will do."

"Yeah, they'll do till we get the new uniforms. We're warming up until Riko calls us so better be ready for something even more intense then last week."

"I'll do my best." Kuroko put on a brave face. It had been a long time since he last trained, this probably wouldn't end well.

As things picked up Kuroko followed Kagami along with the motions, though most of the time it was easy to tell what was going on. They lapped around and stretched as the team usually would while listening to some reminders from the coach about how important warming up was. Along the way Kuroko's eyes kept busy, he looked from person to person trying to tell who was who and 'who' they were – Kagami included. From what he knew about him Kagami was relatively new to the team as well, and the other first years apart from him were closer to his own level than the rest. But, although the red-head did as he was told, he sure got shouted at a lot.

"Stop with the dribbling already Kagami! Warm ups are even more important than getting in extra court practice!"

"Damn." Kagami grit his teeth. He waited until the captain turned his eyes away and then tried a shot to the hoop before going back to stretch with the others.

That was another thing he had noticed. Kagami was extremely impatient. This was probably why he had always resorted to trying to get him away through intimidation rather than trying to figure out why he didn't want to go home. Still Kuroko didn't think this was such a bad feature, after all he once knew a good person who was very impatient. Actually that could probably be said about most of his old friends.

"Hey, Kuroko." The ghost looked up to see Riko standing over him while he stretched out his legs. "I hope you don't mind staying late, I'd like to see how you fare in the field."

"A match?" Kuroko blinked in confusion.

"Kagami did tell you that the practice match against Kaijo was today right?"

Kagami suddenly looked nervous.

Kuroko shook his head.

"Kagami!" Another shout from the captain. "If you brought this guy here then at least hold some responsibility!"

"Gaah- shut up! I'm not his baby sitter; I haven't seen him since last week! ...Sir!"

Riko sighed and shook her head.

"Idiot. Well, nothing we can do now, anyway that's that. I've heard that someone from Teiko ended up in Kaijo as well so you came at a good time."

She offered him a smile but Kuroko's expression might have looked troubled to someone who knew his face. He nodded his head and got back to stretching.

He had faith that the blonde would understand his situation.

….

Warm days like this were getting less and less frequent now.

The two coaches managed to organize a match on an outside court, leaving both the teams to get there their own way. They had chosen a quiet place usually held for street-ball events, meaning a full sized court surrounded by tall trees that offered shade for a few of the benches on each side. The sun wasn't too strong and the breeze was occasional – perfect weather for a game. As Seirin arrived first Riko took this opportunity to get everyone to practice their shooting.

Kuroko, now wearing a spare old uniform, wasn't so great at this, so no-one would blame him when he took a breather on the bench.

This is when he met him again.

"Yo, Kuroko-chii."

Kuroko's gaze rose to the one facing the sun.

Kise Ryota. A tall, handsome blonde, who was skilled at anything he tried at. _Almost_ anything. Anyone would think he was a typical bubbly boy riding on his model money but – like everyone in the old group – he had quite a bitter side. Kuroko didn't know much about how he had changed but he could only hope he wouldn't somehow give Kagami and the others a bad impression of his past.

"It's good to see you again, Kise-kun."

"Yeah, it really has been a while. I never would have expected to see you here with this random school."

"I am surprised for the convenience as well."

"Haha, always so straightforward Kuroko-chii. Aren't you at least going to smile for little old me?" Kise grinned, shoving his hands in his pockets as he lost a bit of his childish charm. "But… now that I've seen it I'm a bit worried. You know, there have been a few rumours about you lately." Kuroko kept his line of sight on the blonde but didn't respond. Kise took the hint and sighed with running his hand through his blond locks. "I won't tell anyone, but if those rumours come back to your parents they won't be very happy."

"…I don't mind."

Kuroko lowered his head after he had spoken; pretending that he was still as unreadable as ever as his eyes busily scanned the floor. After a moment of silence passed Kise shook his head, picking up the nearest ball and casually throwing it into the air to perform easy football knee-ups.

"You say that, but…" He muttered absent-mindedly, still close enough for Kuroko to hear. After just a second Kise sighed and kneed the ball high enough so that he could catch and balance it on his foot. "I guess I'll just have to protect you. I'll beat your team so bad you'll never want to play like this again."

The blonde's casual yet confident smile while showing off what looked like easy, basic skills made Kuroko tense. Kise's eyes met his, and he carelessly let the ball roll wherever it may as he faced him again. It wasn't hate, or fear, there was something else in Kuroko's glare that made it harsh.

"Deciding that before the match are you?"

Kuroko looked up and Kise turned his head, both slightly wide-eyed at the tall, glaring tiger. His presence was intense as his eyes targeted the blonde.

"Kagami-kun…"

"I'm guessing this is that friend of yours. Quite full of pride aren't you bastard."

Kise's gaze turned to a glare as his innocent look turned to a smirk.

"Ehh, I've never seen you before." He turned his body to the red-head and gave a playful pout. "Welp, doesn't matter that much. You might have won over Kuroko-chii for now but I'll be stealing his heart away from you in less than a beat."

"Kuro, ko-chii? W-Wait his what?"

"Kise puts –chii on the names of people he respects." Kuroko answered.

"W-Wait that's the less important thing!"

"Ah-" Kise looked over Kagami's shoulder. "Looks like my team is getting ready. Better catch up before I get another bruise." He sighed and leaned over towards the ghost boy with a bright smile. "Guess I'll see you on the court. Good luck beating me with your new team holding you back~"

"OI!" Kagami was getting more and more pissed but neither of the others seemed to be giving him a chance to rant. With a wave Kise wandered off and left the two alone to deal with that weird introduction. "Jeez, who does he think he is? I'll tear that confidence right outta him…"

"Violence isn't always a clever solution." Kuroko stood, brushing himself off. He only just looked up in time to catch the ball that was thrown to him.

"At least it's satisfying. How can you stand being friends with a guy like that?"

"It's not as bad as a violent friend I've made recently."

"Very funny." Kagami glared with extra malice.

Once again Kuroko smiled, shaking his head as he put the ball close to his face. He stared at the leather and traced the lines with his eyes for a moment.

"Besides… it's been a long time since we considered each other friends."

Kagami was surprised at that, but before he could think of any kind of response a whistle blew in their team's direction.

"It's time to play." Kuroko passed back the ball and began to move. "Good luck, Kagami-kun."

"Hmph. Yeah, good luck to you too."

Kagami put the ball under his arm and followed with an unsure expression. He pretended not to notice how Kuroko looked at the opposing team with a fire in his eyes.

….

The line up was simple. Kuroko had explained his time limit and Kagami had convinced the others to let him on. Apart from that it was the second years, Kuroko and Kagami for Seirin and third years and Kise for Kaijo. The whole time they faced each other Kagami eyed Kise and Kise only smirked in return.

He didn't get why but something about this guy bothered him. A lot.

"Kagami."

His head twitched towards Kuroko when he heard his name, only to be caught off guard by a jab to the ribs.

"Just relax. You're making yourself tense."

Kagami groaned and held his side while giving him a death glare.

"You, son of a," He growled, trying to compose himself again. "I got it you idiot, don't patronise me!"

Kuroko only gave a 'I wouldn't have guessed' look as an answer and somehow that was enough to say. The red-head shifted uncomfortably on the spot, trying to stay angry at him as he grumbled under his breath.

The whistle blew, the game was on.

"Tip-off!"

Take, dribble, pass, throw, score, pass, layup, score, pass, shoot, rebound, copy, run. For a simple game of basketball, it was not as simple as a simple game of basketball. Both teams constantly crashed against each other in effort and struggle. The only game changers were the first years, but even then both teams were almost matched up perfectly. Almost. By the mid game time both teams were exhausted and scores were pretty much tied, and with Kuroko almost reaching his limit there was no choice but to utilize every advantage they had. Things weren't looking good for Seirin.

At the bench Riko was tending to anything the team needed after giving them a lecture. Hyuuga as well was one of the least out of breath so was up talking to others about the game plan. On the other hand Kuroko was just making himself relax to avoid exhaustion.

As he drew the nice cold water bottle away from his face he looked up, watching as Kagami took a swig out of his own. His cold blue eyes continued to observe everything.

It was strange, the things that you can notice if you stop to think while in these situations. How the team works as one unit, how different the styles were, how people change. The Kagami on the court is indeed very different from the Kagami who had picked a fight late at night in the streets just a week ago. Determined, focused, even caring about his other teammates. Or, maybe, this was the part of him he didn't show.

A wider smile than before spread onto his lips – his version of laughing.

"Huh? What is it?"

He blinked at Kagami who, like him before, was holding the bottle to his head to try and stop any more sweat from covering his skin.

"Sorry." He straightened his back and looked down. "For a second I thought I might have started to admire you. But it's gone now."

"O-Oi don't start saying such random stuff like that!" Kagami flinched and again this flustered side of him was noticed by Kuroko.

"Did you want me to admire you?"

"W-" Kagami tensed and shoved his palm straight onto the shorter male's head. "Like hell I do! The last thing I need is more reason for you to start stalking me again." As he roughly ruffled Kuroko's hair someone watched from across the pitch.

Kise stared for a long while, observing the two from his bench as though he were an ever-watching parent. Slowly his calm expression turned disgruntled.

"Oi Kise!"

Suddenly the blonde jumped and put his hands up in defence.

"I'm sorry don't hit me!"

Kasumatsu looked down at him with a guilty look and rubbed the back of his head.

"I'm not gonna hit you, idiot." He sighed as Kise whimpered and put down his hands carefully. "You look pissed, don't get distracted."

"Oh, is that all? Hahah you don't have to worry about that" He laughed. "If anything…" He looked over to the opposing bench again; his smile soft but his eyes sharp, "I really want to win right now."

His captain's gaze on him grew wary but he didn't argue Kise's confidence.

….

As the teams returned to the court the blonde managed to catch Kagami where the others wouldn't hear him.

"Ah man, what a pain." He groaned a sigh, wiped his blond hair out of his face and planted his hands on his hips with a nonchalant shrug. "To be honest you surprised me. This is turning out to be a lot more fun than I had thought."

"Don't get all flashy on me now. It pisses me off that you're still acting high and mighty." Kagami glared.

The model just laughed, though his eyes stayed focused.

"You really are Kuroko-chii's type of partner aren't you? But, sorry. I have to stop you now, can't avoid being serious about the consequences for much longer."

"What are you talking about?" Kagami frowned.

"Ahh, well, how do I explain it? You see I just can't let Kuroko-chii get his way right now. It's for his own good."

"I don't get it but if you're trying to get me to fix the game for you forget it."

"Eh? No no, that would be way too boring! But…" Kise looked over to the benched ghost. "If Kuroko-chii feels like he's useful on your team he'll stay with you. He'll try his best for you until he's simply not needed anymore. After that… who knows what will happen. But either way, before he can get hurt like that, just being with you is going to get him in a lot of trouble." Kagami tensed at that. Kise calmly turned to the side, smirking once again. "Besides, you guys don't really get along do you? Why don't you let me take him off your hands, that way we'll all be happy."

"You…" Those were the kind of words that pushed him ever closer to the edge. Take Kuroko off his hands? What was he, some kind of toy? A puppet to this guy? Just assuming that he would be happy to be taken away… Kagami grit his teeth and gave Kise a glare matching that of a hunter to its prey. "That's enough talking. Why don't you show me with your play?"

Kise raised a brow of interest.

"Oh? Fine by me. I'll take him off you by showing the difference between us."

.

Chapter 5: End

.

* * *

Lol I cant do basketball matches.

Woop Woop! Adding in some more characters! Which means attempting to do several personalities so, uh, might be a few OOC bits ^u^; especially since this is back when Kise was still being snobby, I'm used to the adorable Kise who cried with his team-mates!

Anyways next is the second half of the match! Also Kuroko-chii tells Kagami why he isn't truthful to his parents?


	6. Close

.

Chapter 6: I'm Going To Stay Close

.

The whistle blew once more and they were off. Without Kuroko backing up the passes the team had to change their strategy and hope for the best. The recently obtained dynamic duo had been the focus of power almost out of principle but now they settled for a run and gun tactic, the seniors were experienced enough to use the switch to their advantage even if they were ignoring exhaustion. It worked for a while but Kaijo really was a tough opponent. Again and again Kagami went one on one with Kise, and again and again the blonde's smirk pissed him off. Neither teams liked relying on their first year but with the pace the game was going it was a battle of the aces. It wasn't until three quarters of the match had already gone that this was sorted.

"Are you an idiot?!"

Riko could hit damn hard. She sent Kagami tumbling back onto the bench with just a punch to the shoulder.

"The point of a team that focuses on team play is to play as a team, how are we supposed to get anywhere with you losing the ball all the time?"

For once someone sympathised with Kagami when the most cat-like member of the team spoke up.

"Well, I mean, it's not like this is a real game…"

"Fool!"

Koganei flinched as the captain stomped into a pose of pride.

"Just because it's a practice game doesn't make it any less important! Every second counts, and every second is wasted when you're hogging the ball!"

Riko sighed and shook her head. "We need something to pull ahead again. Kuroko, do you think your misdirection will work for the last bit?"

"I've been ready for a while now."

"Well why didn't you tell me…" Riko muttered bitterly but shook her head. "Alright. You'll be going in straight away and then we'll have to gun it for the last 5 minutes. This is the last part, everyone do your best so you'll have no regrets."

With a united cheer the team nodded and prepared for the coming final battle.

"Kagami-kun."

The red-head felt a tug on his sleeve. He huffed and waved the hand away, beginning to walk slowly in front of the phantom he knew was following close behind.

"I got it, I'll pass and stuff."

"No, not that. I wanted to know what Kise said to you."

Kagami's eyes widened a little as he glanced down to him. The way he was staring at him, Kuroko definitely wanted to know this.

"…Not much. Some crap about showing the difference between us."

"Anything else?"

Kagami paused and kept his gaze away from the ghost.

"He said he wanted to convince you to leave the team. Something about you getting into trouble if you hang around with us."

Kuroko took a pause to process the information.

"I see." He relaxed and looked back to the court in a dejected way. "I can't imagine why you would be angry about that. But, yes, for playing with all of you I will get into trouble."

"Wait, that was serious? Who's gonna care as long as you're not breaking any rules?"

"No, it's rather…" Kuroko tried to find the words. "I was banned from playing basketball."

"Wha…" Kagami stopped and stared at him in disbelief. Banned? From basketball? What could cause something so insane?

As he once again tried to decipher what the heck was going on Kuroko overtook him and fixed his wrist band.

"It's time to go, Kagami."

"R, Right…"

The red-head shook his head and continued, the strange feeling of mystery still clinging to the back of his mind.

The players went to their places and Kise's eyes skimmed over the two he was looking out for. "Bringing back the cavalry already…" He hummed, giving a small sigh. "Kuroko-chii… Really now, what are you doing?"

….

"Time! The win goes to Kaijo!"

The final whistle blew as the end of the match was won.

It was a close game but no miracles to be seen. Both teams shook hands and went their separate ways, save for Kagami who was already heading back to the bench ahead of the rest.

He was seething. It was hard to tell why, even for him, did what Kise say really take that much out of him? For some reason he felt like he had failed. But failed what, failed to win against that bastard? Failed his team by letting it get to him? Failed Kuroko by proving Kise right? He felt like it was the weight of all of the above and more. Although, to be honest, it could just be him being pissed off that he lost at basketball.

Kagami grit his teeth and kicked the bench just light enough that no-one would bother checking his rage level. He should be grateful for this. Maybe now that they lost, Kuroko would go to Kise's team or something…

"It's Kagami, right?"

The red-head looked behind him, still looking fierce as a wild animal.

"Woah that's some glare." Kise laughed, coming to a stop with his hands in his pockets. "Well don't take it too personally. It was a game for the good of another no? Hope there's no bad blood between the teams."

"You son of a…" Kagami growled. He clenched his hands into fists and tried to convince himself that the pompous blond was right, but, he simply couldn't. Instead he settled for taking a deep breath while looking away. "…stop sneaking around."

Kise raised a brow but then his eyes trailed to where Kagami was looking and got a shock up his spine.

"Waaagh-! Haha, I haven't been scared like that in ages! So weird~"

The blank-faced as ever Kuroko stood beside them both, creating a triangle.

"Sorry. I wanted to see if anything dramatic would happen."

"Kuroko-chii, you're so straightforward." Kise whined again. Then he shook his head and looked up to him, determined. "Well, you can see for yourself, your team lost. Seirin will keep losing whether you help them or not. It's not worth all the trouble; maybe you could just ask your parents to let you join another team?"

Kuroko shook his head and glanced down.

"You know they won't let me do that. Not after I embarrassed them."

Kagami's attention was caught, silently, as he listened in on the sudden change of topic. It was his parents that banned him?

"Besides…" Kuroko straightened himself up and looked at Kise with a smile. "I've already decided. I had a lot of fun today, so if I can I want to keep having fun."

"Kuroko-chii…" Kise frowned, looking like a disapproving older brother, though his voice was low and almost quiet. "Don't tell me you've actually settled for this level of play."

"Thank you for looking out for me, but I don't intend to leave Seirin any time soon."

Kuroko's face was much more relaxed than just a second ago; even his cold eyes seemed to have some excitement in them. Both Kagami and Kise couldn't help but stare.

Nobody spoke for a long, tense moment.

"Ahh… I really can't change your mind huh." Kise sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "What a pain. I know Akashi-chii wouldn't be happy with me giving up a victory like this but, it is you after all."

"Thank you for understanding."

"Yeah…" He laughed, shaking his head again before looking to Kagami. "By the way I've been meaning to ask, who is this guy? Your boyfriend or something?"

"W-Where did you get that assumption from?!" Kagami exploded into a flustered red-faced combo.

"He is just Kagami-kun. He is vaguely interesting to be around."

"Ah I see, sounds like your type of guy."

"What the hell are you two saying?!"

Poor, poor Kagami.

Outside of their conversation the two teams packed up, giving the vibe of finishing the day. With that kind of environment it was only natural that Kise would wave goodbye sooner rather than later.

"I'll seeya again Kuroko-chii."

"Yes. Hopefully on the court for a rematch."

"Haha~ not that it will be any different from today."

Kuroko smiled at that, giving a confident look.

"When that time comes, I will show you the true difference between our teams."

"You're so cheesy Kuroko-chii." Kise laughed and threw his jacket over his shoulder. He began to walk backwards with a wave. "You're too confident for your own good." With a twist on his heels Kise was off in the opposite direction. He slowed his pace and looked up towards his own team. "Although… these guys aren't half bad either."

Meanwhile the two Seirin players began to collect their own things.

Kagami stayed silent for a long moment. He tried his best until he could try no more.

"Kuroko."

The ghost looked up, seeing Kagami had stopped and was staring at him. Kuroko stayed silent, as though he hoped not saying anything could avoid the subject he expected completely. Still, Kagami didn't pause as he straightened himself up with a frown.

"Are your parents the ones who stopped you from playing basket ball? And from embarrassment?"

Again Kuroko stayed silent for a little longer. Then his eyes drifted back to his bag as he continued to pack.

"I promise that I will tell you what you want to know on the way back to your house."

Kagami, being impatient, wanted to ask why he couldn't just say it now but his attention was caught by the bellowing voice of their captain.

"Hurry up you two! We've got to get the school van back before sun-down!"

"Ah-, Right." Kagami gave a nod and took his bag, walking back with Kuroko by his side.

"Nice work today everyone." Riko smiled while she ticked off names on the list as each member went into the van. "Kagami, we need to work on your team play."

"Uh right… mam." He nodded and went on, which left Kuroko till last.

"Kuroko, nice job. Your ability is for real alright, now we start by increasing your stamina."

"Right." Kuroko nodded, about to go on before Riko stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. She gave him a confident smile. "You're a great addition to the team. I hope you'll come back again."

Even though he knew it might just be a tactic to get a skilled player on her team, Kuroko couldn't help smiling the brightest smile he had shown yet at hearing those words.

"Right."

….

"Good luck getting home."

"Safe trip."

"See you tomorrow."

As the group split off one by one both Kuroko and Kagami checked to make sure their important items were still on their person before heading off together. Sure enough they were soon alone and the silence in the air was thick.

Kagami was quickly losing his patience with these situations.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Hurry up and tell me."

"You haven't asked anything yet."

"You-" Kagami groaned and pinched his the bridge of his nose, only looking up again when he managed to find his calm. "Why did your parents ban you from basketball? And why will you get into trouble if they find out you're playing with us rather than a team like blondie's?"

Kuroko kept his eyes straight as he paused. If not for the possibility that Kuroko was stalling to think how to respond Kagami would have thought he didn't even hear him.

"I embarrassed them."

Was all he said at first. Kuroko's expression didn't change, he didn't even flinch. Kagami frowned but wouldn't talk just in case Kuroko was willing to tell more.

Eventually, he was.

"Back when I played for Teiko, we were truly unbeatable. Even now the line up regulars are called 'miracle' players. My parents were not proud to see me be impressive in something brutish like sport, but they were comfortable with me in some kind of lime light. Then in the very last game I was supposed to play I showed weakness, and after that I quit." Kuroko took a silent breather to push out some unwanted memories. Kagami pretended not to notice the flicker of pain in his eyes. "I… hated basketball. With all my heart. But a friend helped me get back on my feet and made me realize it's not worth letting that feeling continue. I realized I wanted to play again. But, when I tried to get into the basketball club at my new school, my parents somehow found out and stopped me. They didn't want anyone to see my weakness. If they find out I am playing again, in fact if they find out I'm even spending my time here they will give me even less freedom of choice. I may never play basketball again."

Kagami tried to understand all of it but it was a little hard to connect the dots.

"Wait, why specifically around here? Do they have some kinda grudge about Seirin?"

Kuroko shook his head and looked as far away from Kagami as was comfortable.

"I… my family looks down on people like you."

That was probably a mistake to say in front of quick-fuse-Kagami.

"What did you just say?" He growled, stopping and grabbing Kuroko roughly by the collar of his borrowed school uniform. "Tch, I forgot. You're from one of those rich-snob-ass schools too, aint'cha?"

"That's right." Kuroko didn't deny it, staring at Kagami with a forced ordinary expression. "And being seen in this school would embarrass them more. Even if they know I'm not very noticeable, they still think I am a rebellious child for having fun with the team."

Kagami kept his glare for a moment longer. Then he finally let him fall.

"So that's it, your parents are rich and you wanna act poor. That kind of thing?"

"In a way. Wealth doesn't really have much to do with it but I am a fan of freedom."

Kagami gave him a dirty look and lightly shoved Kuroko's shoulder to keep some distance between them. He kept walking.

"Right. So, that night I met you in the park…?"

"I was trying to escape from… I was looking for something to do." Kuroko spoke as he caught up with him and straightened out his collar. He wasn't quite ready to discuss his romantic situation yet.

"And you didn't want to go home because you found a place to play basketball."

"That, and you were quite interesting to hang around."

"Oi oi, what kind of description is that?"

"I apologize. You are quite interesting to hang around."

"That's no better."

Kagami glared at him and his smile. Kuroko took a pause, letting the good feeling wash over him before he could look up with a stoic expression again.

"And what about you? Why do you live alone?"

"Oh. Uhh, well my parents are in America. I was supposed to live there with my dad but…" Kagami made a face and just shrugged.

Kuroko stared at that expression for a moment.

"Doesn't it get lonely?"

"Huh? Not really, I'm used to it. I can cook and clean and do all that good stuff."

"Hm. I will have to come round more often."

"What, so you can learn how to cook and clean rich guy?"

"I didn't think about that. Let's go with that."

"O-Oi, what's the real reason?"

"To learn how to cook and clean."

"No what you meant first!"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Ugh you are so aggravating!" Kagami gave himself a palm to the face, though he did look through his fingers to see Kuroko's reaction. As he saw the ghost covering his mouth like he was laughing at him he felt a sly smile creeping up on his own lips. He removed his hand and looked away, trying to act casual but the smile refused to leave him. "…Well whatever, I'm hungry. Might as well start your first lesson today. Long as you won't get into trouble, that is."

"I'll be fine. Your offer is very generous, thank you."

.

Chapter 6: End

.

* * *

Jeeez I didn't even remember Kise tried to get Kuroko back in the real thing before rewatching the first few episodes after writing this chapter!

I also did a bit of research and found that Kuroko is actually the youngest member of Seirin ^-^; so uh, let's just ignore that and treat the conversation last chapter as normal.

And now we send our way on the non-canon road again! Next chapter Kuroko spends the night at Kagami's house~ But getting to sleep in an unfamiliar place is always tricky, Kuroko might need some assistance.


	7. Alone

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Chapter 7: When You Feel Alone

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Although he had agreed to it, now that he was there Kuroko began to get worried about just how much protein Kagami ate every day.

"This is only slightly less meat than the time you cooked me breakfast."

"Eh?" Kagami looked up and listened over the sound of the sizzling on the frying pan. "Oh yeah. Well the vegetables take less time so for now why don't you just wash'm."

Kuroko shook his head with a confused sigh and turned to the sink which had a big back of mixed vegetables next to it.

"How much should I wash?"

"What do you mean how much? We're using all of it."

Kuroko felt himself shiver.

He took it back; Kagami simply ate way too much on a regular basis. Still he just went with it and began to prepare what he could.

"How can you afford to eat so much every day, do you have a job?"

"Nah, you're not the only one living off of your parents. Like I said, everything I have in this place came with the house, only got enough money for food and cleaning stuff. The basketballs and weights are gifts from American friends."

"I see…" Kuroko nodded, an image coming to his head of Kagami seeing his parents again only for them to realize he had turned into a glutton. No, he may have always been like this. Now he really wanted to know but it's not like he could ask his parents. Kuroko caught himself feeling something strange, something that made him smile. The thought that they would keep a strange friendship like this while being forbidden to see each other's family, for some reason it was kind of exciting. Although he could have sworn it reminded him of a story he's heard before.

….

"Kagami-kun, can I ask another favour of you?"

"What is it?" Kagami grumbled with his mouth full. His plate was once again mostly empty while Kuroko had taken a break from eating.

"Do you… mind if I stay at your house again?"

"Huh?" He frowned, looking up before he answered. "Are you sure? Your parents sound pretty strict, won't they notice?" Wait, the better answer probably would have been 'no way I fed you already now skat'.

That's probably what he would have said last week anyway.

"They are only strict about the things that they know others will see. As far as they know I have been in my room since I left school."

"And what about your school tomorrow? I'd imagine somewhere posh wouldn't be too keen on you coming in late."

"I can do a great phone voice. I got away with it last week I can do it again this week."

"Now that is something I would like to see." Kagami smirked.

There was no way the never-changing Kuroko could pull off different voices.

"I will get embarrassed if you watch."

"Really? I think you just can't do it."

"I can. Watch, I have an impression of the captain."

Kuroko blinked and Kagami was drawn in to see just what would happen. A miracle might just occur before his very eyes.

He leaned in close as Kuroko opened his mouth.

"Are you an idiot, Kagami."

"You just did it in your normal voice!" He spat, almost choking on his food.

"I have an impression of you too Kagami-kun." Kuroko blinked again. "Yes, I am an idiot. Sir."

"You little brat!" Kagami reached over the table in an instant and hit his palm onto Kuroko's forehead. He knocked him back and used the second to not have his face give away that he was about to laugh. "If you're going to do an impression, do it right."

"Show me how to do it right then, idiot-kun." Kuroko said as he rubbed his forehead, only to receive a flick on the ear.

"I'm not putting on a show for you, kid."

"I am not a kid." He frowned in an almost pouty way.

"Well I think you are a kid, kid."

Kuroko's gaze turned into a half glare as Kagami smirked victoriously. Just as the red-head thought he had won the match he blurted out a pained noise and fell to the floor, clutching his knee.

"You son of a…"

Kuroko put his foot back down from where he had heeled him in the shin.

"Sorry, my legs are too childish to not reach perfectly into your shin." He shrugged and was about to begin eating again when he was suddenly tackled to the floor.

"Well you know what big tough adults do to kids who don't behave right?"

"W-What…?" Kuroko frowned, a slight tint of stutter coming to him as he tried to not be intimidated by the larger male pinning him down.

"You do… THIS!"

In a flash his hands moved. The red-head moved fast and before Kuroko could stop him he found himself tensing up with a gasp. "O-Oi- sto-" He tried desperately to stop Kagami's tickling hands but could only do so much when he was desperately trying to stop himself from smiling or laughing. His shirt fell up to the perfect length to expose all of the worst spots that would make him flinch and twist as his body told him he needed to laugh. He covered his mouth with one hand and tried to push Kagami away with both feet and the other hand but the red-head's tickling skill was too powerful, and just as Kuroko came to the brink of being unable to hold back he took a great gasp and his leg went straight up with the force of a thousand tickled children.

All fell silent as the fearsome male was floored.

"G…uuuh…hhh…" Poor Kagami groaned as he held his precious broken jewels. "Whyyyyy…"

"Sorry, Kagami-kun." Kuroko said as he caught his breath, red faced from the effort. "This time I definitely am sorry. But you did deserve it."

As the pale student took deep breaths and moved his hair out of his face Kagami sobbed for his temporarily lost manhood.

….

After recovering (and a small revenge) battle the two passed their time casually until it was about time to hit the hay.

Kuroko went exploring through the house to find most of it to be empty space, including another bedroom. After stepping inside he found that it was completely empty apart from a family picture on the side-table. He deduced that this must have been the room Kagami's father was meant to have if he had moved here with his son.

Kuroko decided not to tell Kagami he'd been here. He would sleep on the couch tonight.

Meanwhile Kagami shuffled through some sports magazines that he had spent some spare cash on, laying on the couch without a care in the world. It was only when Kuroko started bringing all the dishes they had used to the kitchen that he looked at the time.

"Last time I was here I think I fell asleep on the couch." Kuroko pointed out as he began to fill the sink with hot water.

"Yeah you did, first time I had to put out the extra blanket for someone."

"You didn't have to put me to bed."

"And let you whine about having a bad neck from falling asleep sitting up in the morning? Yeah right." Kagami shook his head and went to get the extra blanket and pillow.

"Kagami-kun…" Kuroko watched from the kitchen as he paused from cleaning up the plates. After observing for a bit a soft smile returned to his lips. "You are surprisingly caring."

That caught the red-head off guard. He glanced to the ghost with an expression that tested if he had heard that right then looked away, covering his cheeks with his hand even though the other couldn't see his blush.

"What are you talking about?! I-It's just the thing you gotta do, ya know? Shut up and get back to cleaning or we'll be here all night!" Kagami shook his head vigorously and started sorting out the make-shift couch-bed in an awkward, aggravated fashion.

Kuroko watched on with a smile, then softly laughed a quiet laugh before he got back to the dishes.

….

A seemingly empty room with the sound of a ticking clock at night was new to him. When he opened his eyes he didn't see silk sheets or a well organised vanity, instead there was a TV and a wooden floor. When he curled up there was air, not more bed, and when he turned it felt as though there was a wall in front of him. It wasn't… bad. More like, it was cold. While he prided himself on being very adaptable he had to admit this was a definite new experience. No matter how many excuses he made Kuroko couldn't avoid it.

He couldn't sleep.

Overtired and exhausted, he sat up and rubbed his eyes. He looked over to the light up clock on one of the boxes underneath the TV. It was already past midnight, how long had he been tossing and turning?

Water – maybe a drink would help him.

Ah, where was the nearest tap? His head was so fuzzy; maybe he should just ask Kagami.

Without thinking Kuroko dragged himself out from under the covers and rubbed his eyes. He could already feel that his hair was everywhere. After he had gathered himself he slowly got up and wandered around the couch, his sight fading from blurry to dark as he struggled to keep his eyes open. It didn't help that his steps were uneven and he almost bumped into the wall looking for the right direction.

Where was his room again? This door? Yeah, he could see the moonlight seep under the doorway.

Kuroko slowly opened the door that he vaguely remembered to lead to Kagami's bedroom and drifted in, eyes trailing the dark silhouettes that filled it. It was very different at night, eerily silent save for the slight snore that broke through the red-head's breathing every so often. That stereotypically annoying noise was a strange comfort in Kuroko's sleepy state. His eyes trailed to the bed and the mound that lay in it. Kagami looked very comfortable lying there, so picturesque. If Kuroko wasn't so unnoticeable he would be afraid of disturbing him from his perfect slumber. The peace was clear on the red-head's face, a new look for him.

Kagami, where is the tap? He asked in his head, unconsciously trying not to stumble over his own two feet as he walked over to the bed. Now to actually ask him.

Tapping him would probably be easiest, so as Kuroko leaned over he pressed one hand on the bed and tried to reach for his friend with the other.

"Ah…"

He stopped, eyes drooping to his balancing hand.

The bed felt… strangely warm.

Underneath his fingertips he could feel a warm comfort that he hadn't felt in a very long time It called to him to come to dreamland at last. He moved his hand about a bit and then shuffled it under the covers. The comfortable feeling took away his thoughts of what he had actually come here to do as he felt more of the bed before him. Muttering something along the lines of "excuse me", he moved himself slyly under the sheets and got comfortable in this new, much larger bed.

He was right, it was really warm. The world of sleep seemed so much closer in here.

….

From that point on the world continued to turn as slowly as ever, absolute silence ruling over as the night time began to pass on its own.

The two slept close in the warmth.

Fate seemed to choose which path the two would take in the morning when it chose which one would wake up first, perhaps if it had chosen the other then this story would have taken a different turn.

"…Hm…?"

Kuroko took a long moment as his eyes slowly opened to early morning sun. He felt just a little dizzy and dry-throated, probably the reason why he woke up this early. His head rolled to the side where he saw the alarm clock through squinted eyes. It was 5:something in the morning, he had only slept for 5 hours but for some reason he felt refreshed.

But… this wasn't the place he had gone to bed, was it?

After looking around with lazy eyes he confirmed it: this was Kagami's room. This meant… He lulled his head the other way and flinched when he saw the red-head so close to him. An unfamiliar heat travelled to his cheeks but he kept his nerves down – or so he convinced himself. He stayed and stared for a long moment, processing how he should feel about this, but in the end he couldn't decide on one emotion. So instead he turned on his side towards him and stared a moment longer to admire Kagami's sleeping face.

Ah, this part of him is kinda cool too.

Kuroko let go of a silent sigh as his eye lids began to lower again. Kagami really was… warm…

All of a sudden it struck him, a stray memory rushing through his heart.

Kuroko's eyelids flung open and he was faced with Kagami's sleeping face again, though this time the sight sent a shiver of fear through him. "Ka…" He muttered to himself, trying to find why he felt this way now of all times. Could it be, could this 'something new' really hold such consequences? Kuroko bit his lip and tried to ignore it, thinking that it was just his blonde friend's words getting to him. He tried to cast out the thoughts of what his parents might do if they found out. Not just to him, right now he feared for Kagami's future as well. "Sorry…" He whispered, shifting out from under the covers.

He could hear his heartbeat in his ears. He wanted to get rid of this feeling, go back to the time just a moment ago when doubt wasn't an issue, but right now he just had to get away.

….

"Where…" Kagami blinked, staring at the empty room.

Well it was his own living room so it wasn't empty, but…

"Where did the bastard go?"

He ran a hand through his hair with a huff.

Kuroko wasn't anywhere. No sign of him in any of the rooms, even his stuff had vanished.

It wasn't like he wanted to baby sit the guy more, but after all they talked about yesterday it was a little concerning. Also, weren't they going to get ready together this morning? Kagami wanted to punch himself for thinking about that as though it were something he was looking forward to.

No matter how he searched for a trace of the smaller guy the only thing he convinced himself of was that Kuroko really was a ghost.

"Jeez, whatever. I'll see him next week anyway." He sighed and turned back to the kitchen to get some much needed food.

From that point on Kagami spent his day like any other.

Just as bored as ever, just as restless as ever, just as bad at school as ever. That's what it would appear, but today it wasn't him being restless or bored, more like preoccupied. It was a weird feeling that he couldn't get rid of. His thoughts would drift with the wind and his attention would always waver whenever he saw something he could relate to basketball. Now this wasn't exactly a new thing, but now for some reason every train of thought lead to the issues bothering him. What Kise had said, what Kuroko had said, what the ghost kid's issues really meant. It was annoying, but, he was starting to think that maybe there was more meaning behind those blank expressions of his. This shouldn't have bothered him as much as it was but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't chase away the thought that he was worried about Kuroko.

From this train of thought he even decided to take a trip to the street court where they had first met after school. Of course he took a basketball and told himself he was just there for practice but a little part of him wanted someone specific to show up so that he could get the answers he wanted.

"Hyarrgh-!" With a strong lay up he tested his strength and dunked the ball straight into the hoop.

It fell through smoothly, loosing velocity from travelling through the net to land gently enough on the gravel ground below. As Kagami landed he took a breath and wiped away the sweat, remembering what his coach had said about his jumping. Maybe it was a skill like Kuroko and Kise? Maybe, and maybe that was something they could have in common.

"Agh, come on." He shook his head and grabbed the ball again.

That was enough, there was no way he could see him until next week so there was no point in thinking about him all over again. If he could just play basketball all day he would be happy.

He turned the ball around in his hands, too distracted to hear the rattling on the near chain fence. However the voice caught his attention instantly.

"It's nice to see you again, Taiga."

The voice that spoke in the language he knew better than anyone else around here, there was only one person that could be standing there.

"Tatsuya?"

Kagami stared, wide-eyed, at his brother who offered a calm and confident smile.

.

Chapter 7 End

.

* * *

So now the ever ghostly Kuroko has left yet another impression on the young tiger, and once again disappeared without a trace, spooky! Thank you all for your continued support in reading this far!

Next chapter continues with a new challenger, how this will effect the story will be shown only with patience!


	8. Soon

.

Chapter 8: Let's Meet Again Soon

.

I don't need a brother.

If you lose the next game, I'll pretend this never existed.

"Man, that all seems like so long ago now." Kagami sighed, leaning against the arm of the bench with ball in hand. He stared up to the sky while his 'brother' sat down with a sports drink in hand.

"Yes, we were such children."

"Pfft, more like you were. I didn't want any trouble."

Himuro Tatsuya laughed at that.

"Maybe you're right. I guess it will take time before we become as close as we were."

"You kidding? This is normal for brothers. Or, so I've heard. At least nothing weird happens with you…"

"I wouldn't say that." The black-haired boy smiled and looked up to the red-head, finding his expression suspicious. "Something on your mind?"

"Huh? No. Not really. Why d'you ask?"

"When I saw you before you didn't look as focused on the ball as you usually are. Even now you are restless, Taiga."

"Oh, uh, well, not really." He repeated awkwardly and looked away. "I mean, can you blame me? Haven't seen you for ages and all that..." Himuro wasn't sure but shrugged it off, but just as he was about to say something Kagami continued. "Just, like, a couple weeks ago I met this weird guy. He kinda stalked me and got into my house and I wanted to chuck him out but, well, I dunno."

Himuro paused for a second.

"Alright, sounding weird so far." He smiled cautiously with a raised brow.

"Yeah well, he ended up coming to my basket ball club. Apparently he's one of the 'generation of miracles' or something."

That part caught Himuro's attention - but he didn't say a word.

"He's such a weird guy. Turned out he was stalking me cause he didn't wanna go home. Family issues and stuff. So after practice yesterday he ended up at my place and, I thought that maybe it was gonna start to be like a normal thing, but then this morning he just disappeared like he was never here."

"Hmm, that is interesting. It's not like you to open yourself up to anyone Taiga."

Kagami flinched.

"S-Shut up, it's not like I did it on purpose. It's just suspicious as all. Also that's not the issue here!" He huffed and tried to spin the ball on his finger, not noticing the slight blush that had appeared on his cheeks.

Tatsuya gave a knowing smile.

"Are you worried about him?"

"Why would I be?" Kagami rolled his stared at the ball for a moment before speaking again. "…Maybe a little." Kagami pouted and put the ball on his lap with a defensive sneer. "I mean he just tells me about this big issue and scrams overnight? It's not like it's any of my business but come on!" By now the red-head wasn't even sure what he was fuming about.

"Hahah, you really haven't changed at all have you Taiga?" Tatsuya drank the rest of the bottle and then tossed it in the near trash. "A generation of miracles member hm? What's his name?"

"It was Kuroko, er, Tetsuya, I think."

"How convenient." Tatsuya chuckled and opened out his palm to Kagami. "Can I borrow your phone?"

"Uh, sure." He dug it out of his pocket and passed it over. "You gonna call someone?"

"That would be rude. I've got a new phone number so give me a minute while I put it in."

"Oh, sure."

Kagami shrugged and gave a bored yawn as he stood up, bouncing the ball when he was close enough to the hoop. As he left, Tatsuya's smile turned to a slight smirk while he judged the hearing distance.

"Heya, it's me." He spoke into his own phone while typing a name into Kagami's. "Yes, no, I need a favour. Remember I told you about my brother? Turns out he knows a friend of yours." He kept an eye on Kagami as he ran in for a dunk, though he tried not to get distracted by his own urge to join in. "Yeah. Is that so? I'll buy you something after school tomorrow. As much as you want. Thanks, seeya tomorrow." With that, Tatsuya cut the call and waited for the text with the information he needed.

Meanwhile Kagami was satisfied being distracted with the sound of the ball shooting through the hoop. With a sigh and a swipe of his sweating forehead he went to pick up the ball, only to be confronted with a foot on his spherical possession.

"Look who's back where he doesn't belong."

As he looked up Kagami's expression immediately turned to a scowl. This was the last trio he wanted to see today, and there weren't exactly many trios he was expecting to see anyway.

Hanamiya stood above him with that gross smirk of his.

"Thought you would have learned your lesson last time, cub. Or do you need to take some extra classes?"

Kagami stood up straight, expression grim. He swore he could just feel the smugness of Hanamiya's two brutes crowding him. "Tch." He stepped back to break out of being surrounded and gave the trio a one of a kind snarl. "You caught me off guard by throwing the first punch last time, this time I can expect some dirty tricks."

"Oh, is that so? Good thing we don't have to sink so low. Besides, I'm just here to take this back." Hanamiya smirked as he kicked up the ball into his own hands.

"Oi oi, that's mine you bastard."

"Is it? Pretty sure I left it here by accident, got stolen by some weakling with weird eyebrows."

"You're asking for it you-"

Kagami was stopped just short of rage as a hand tugged on his shoulder.

"Eh, is that so?" Tatsuya came in from behind him with a cheerful smile. "So you just lost your ball. No reason to fight about that."

"T-Tatsu," Kagami grit his teeth and turned to him, "don't tell me you're buying this crap?"

"What does it matter anyway? You can't go meet your date with a black eye, Taiga."

"D-Date?!" Kagami's face turned the same red as in his hair while his brother continued too calmly for his liking.

"Anyway, we'd best be going, see you gentlemen later." Himuro waved and began to drag the ranting Kagami away.

"What the hell Tatsuya! If you're going to help then help me with war not peace!"

Hanamiya laughed while the other two snickered. "Hah! Got to get your buddies in just to run away? You really are pathetic after all!"

"Yeah right you son of a bitch, Tatsuya let go of me!"

"That's not an option, taking on those guys for whatever beef you have going on will just be a waste of time. Besides, I was telling the truth." He gave a sly smile to the red-head he was dragging behind him. "Kuroko would be worried if he saw you with a black eye wouldn't he? You can't be meeting him all beaten up, that would only make things worse."

Kagami's eyes widened at that. Then slowly his flustered blush relaxed just a bit and he pouted to the side. "I-It's not like that, he's already seen me beaten up. All he said was that I was an idiot for picking a fight with them…"

"So he's truthful too, what a guy."

"OI!"

Although Kagami looked like he was ready to punch everyone in the surrounding area the black haired brother just laughed it off like it was nothing.

It took a while for the red-head to be dragged to the point of calming down but it had seemed Tatsuya was used to this whole thing. Just the very sight of it was enough to give the feeling of nostalgia, even with the vaguely confused passer-bys staring. Finally he stopped dragging Kagami around just in time for them to reach the outside of his apartment.

"Looks like this is where I stop. I was actually just passing by to shoot a few for good measure but I'm beat from all the excitement." Himuro sighed, putting his hands to his hips for a job well done.

"Oi oi, not going to come in or even say 'let's meet again some time'?" Cooled-down-Kagami frowned.

"Well, now that the tournaments are back on I have a feeling we'll be seeing each other more often. Besides, you've got other things on your mind."

"I guess…" Kagami shoved his hands in his pockets while Tatsuya smiled and waited for some kind of little confession. "…You're both so weird."

"Eh?" Not what he was expecting but he would take it. "Me and Kuroko?"

"N-No, well yeah he is super weird but, you and that Kise guy. He said something like 'steal his heart' or whatever and now you're acting like me and Kuroko are something and…" Kagami was just grumbling at this point. He really could be such a child at times.

"Is that what was most bothering you?" Tatsuya frowned earning a silent pout from Kagami. He shook his head and laughed even louder than before. "You really have changed after all; I thought you would be more furious at me for making you abandon the fight. I was just teasing, Taiga. You don't really think I thought you and Kuroko were a thing did you?"

"N-No…" Total lie.

"And I bet the 'heart' guy was messing about as well. But now that you've turned so defensive about it…"

Kagami's face instantly lit up into yet another shade bright red.

"N-No, I wasn't being defensive! It just bugged me that's all – it's you who's being an idiot about this!"

"Hahah, I was teasing you again Taiga, you're so touchy about this it's hilarious!"

"Grr…" Kagami grit his teeth and tried to hide his face, tempted to back away when Tatsuya came closer. The calm pat to his head didn't really help much.

"Well even if I do think he would suit you I would definitely check him first. Only the best for my little brother."

"Oi oi, who says I'm the little brother still? You said it yourself that you were the kid back in the argument days."

"Eh maybe, but now you're the little kid fussing over the little things, like people pointing out that you are definitely in lo-"

"Alright alright I get it stop with the dating jokes already!"

"Hahah, my bad." Tatsuya gave him a few more pats on the head only to get his hand swatted away by his 'little brother'. He shrugged and turned to leave past Kagami before stopping. "Ah that's right; I still have your phone." He passed it back to Kagami who started checking it right after. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah, seeya around…"

With a wave from both sides, Kagami began to head into the building.

The red-head was still fuming He awkwardly fumbled through his phone to distract himself from his thoughts, almost hitting the door face-first when he got in. Stupid brother, stupid Kise, stupid Kuroko. What did they know…

"A new number, wouldn't he just use the same card…?" He sighed, clicking on his contacts. "…Eh?" He stopped and stared at the phone. There on the contacts list was suddenly the name Kuroko Tetsuya. "K…" He blinked, checking for the number it had on it and then checking Tatsuya's for good measure.

"TATSUYA YOU BASTARD!"

….

Maybe… this is what the 'call-me-back' dates feel like.

Kagami's leg bounced impatiently as he stared at his phone, unable to make a decision.

It would be really weird for some random weirdo to call you up right? Even weirder if it's someone you know who magically has your number. That would just be creepy. Well Kuroko wouldn't have any excuse to call anyone else creepy, but even he definitely wouldn't ignore how stalkerish it is. On the other hand, Kuroko could be really upset about something. Maybe his parents called him in the middle of the night. Or maybe he was lying the whole time? No, Kise's worry for him would confirm that much. But on a whole other note, it wasn't really his problem anyway. Lots of people had parent issues, just because Kuroko happened to never tell him anything about himself didn't mean anything about himself would be interesting.

Gaaah Kagami wanted to know why he left so baaaaad!

"Fuck it! I'm calling him!"

He snatched the phone off the table and opened it up, searching for the contact and pressing the call button before he could have a second thought.

Vrrrrrp

Kagami flinched as it started calling and his hand twitched to the 'end call' button, just about to press down on it when he stopped himself.

Gah- no, what am I doing? If I don't do it now I'm gonna call him again and again and then I'll really look like a stalker! Just explain it, he'll probably not be freaked out… right? Yeah. Totally. Definitely.

….

Growwwl

Kuroko gulped and held his stomach, taking a deep, quiet sigh. He travelled home alone after extra classes, no-one close enough to hear his stomach growling. He had clearly been spoiled by Kagami's tasty meals; the breakfast he was given at home didn't feel like enough and the lunch he had didn't make up for it at all. Perhaps this was a difference of socially acceptable dining. At least he had been able to catch up on sleep since he sat at the back of the class, after rushing home in the morning he barely had time to change into school clothes before coming to greet his parents like he had been there all night.

Now that he was leaving school he passed by the overzealous gates and well taken care of front school gardens as usual without seeming to be thinking of anything. All around him were blank faces with colourless uniforms. He already missed Seirin.

Ah, no…

Kuroko flinched and squared his jaw as he hurried off away from the crowd.

He couldn't think like that, he needed to stay content with this life right now.

With the sun's light beginning to dim, the lights beside the road were starting to turn on as he felt a buzz on his side. "Hm?" Kuroko blinked, shuffling his hand through his bag while he murmured to himself. "My phone…?" He wasn't very used to people calling him anymore. Taking a look, he saw it wasn't any number that was named or that he could recognize. But it didn't look like a company number… The only thing that came to mind was Momoi getting a new phone or something. In that case, I should probably take the chance rather than upsetting her. He stopped in the empty street and picked it up.

"This is Kuroko."

"Ah- so it is real."

There was a slight stutter from the other end of the phone, then a sigh.

"This is Kagami."

Kuroko felt a shock go through his body.

How did Kagami get his number?

"H-Hello?"

"Kagami-kun, you weren't trying to steal anything from my bag were you?"

"Why would I?! I, I got your number from a friend. I think. I-It's a long story, but I swear I'm not being creepy."

"Well you are usually more intimidating than creepy so maybe the two go hand in hand."

"What kind of guy do you think I am?"

The irritation in Kagami's voice made him smile. He couldn't help it, something about the excitement made him want to laugh. At least like this he could be as expressive as he liked and not worry what the red-head thought about him – even though that wasn't much of a change to how expressive he usually was. Still, knowing Kagami wouldn't change either made him strangely happy; perhaps his anger was a little cute somehow? Like a cat trying to not take a bath. Hmm, kitty Kagami…

"A-Anyway, I wanted to ask, umm, about, you know…"

Kagami's awkward stuttering got Kuroko out of his train of thought.

"About what? The homework that was on your desk that looked due for today?"

"Eh?" There was a pause and a ruffling of paper before he heard his voice again. "This was the thing teacher was getting so pissy about? Dammit, why didn't you tell me about this!?"

"It's your work."

"That I completely forgot about! I gotta stay an extra hour on Friday for this crap."

"You just need to keep more organised Kagami-kun."

"I wouldn't need to if I had a more smarter friend…"

'More smarter', Kuroko didn't bother to correct his grammar on this one. There was something that distracted him more.

"…Kagami-kun."

"Hm? What is it?"

"…Do you consider us to be friends?"

"Eh? Uh, sure, why not."

"I see."

"Wait was that it? Not gonna say anything blunt about how indecisive I am or something?"

"Yes, and I do not have to say it as long as you know it Kagami-kun. I suppose I expected something more like 'you're a creepy stalker but you play basket ball okay' from you."

"Again with the bad attitude thing."

"You are a little brutish."

"Alright I get it, jeez…"

Kuroko smiled for a moment but soon stared at the floor, not sure what to say next. It had been a long time since he had the responsibility of being a friend.

"I guess… I dunno, you're not a bad guy. Being around you is interesting and, well, you're kinda different from everyone else. Even though you're a handful it's not like I hate spending time with you."

The very fact that he actually reassured it surprised the ghost. His eyes widened, feeling a strange lightness in his chest.

"Kagami…"

"W-Whatever, you just happen to be one of the few nice guys I know alright? That and… well, I'm glad that you joined the team."

Maybe it was because Kagami was starting to sound a little tsundere but Kuroko could swear he could see his slightly flustered face already. 'I'm glad you joined the team', what was he supposed to take away from that? For some reason it reminded him of a feeling he missed a lot, but also it was very different this time.

"Oi, say something dammit! I'm feeling embarrassed over here!"

"Sorry…" Again he was lost in his thoughts; he would just blame it on bad signal if he had to. "But, thank you. That means a lot to me Kagami-kun."

"Yeah well, it's the truth, so…"

Come to think of it, this was the second time Kagami had told him such a thing, and the second time he had responded in such a way. Ah, what was Kagami making him say? Kuroko found himself smiling again and took a pause before deciding on his thoughts.

"While I was wandering around I found a flier about the beach festival this weekend."

"Huh? Oh yeah, I heard about that." Kuroko fidgeted a bit, rethinking his choice of conversation. But then he steeled himself and opened his mouth only to get beaten to the punch. "Wanna go together?"

His eyes widened.

"Ah… Sure. We can get there early to look for a solid-ground basketball court, or at least a substitute. When we're not playing we can look for some festival food."

For a second there was silence on the other end. Kagami had probably forgotten about the abundance of food served at these places, and it would be a nice change from the regular stuff (not to mention a distraction from the thought of tasting the coach's food again soon). Kuroko listened carefully and as he thought he slight 'yesssss' from the other side that made him cover his mouth to force down a laugh.

"That sounds alright then."

"Alright, and the details of where to go…" Kuroko blinked as he thought of something and started talking again before he could stop himself. "Admittedly I'm not very popular. Do you mind me texting you the details later? I will probably be bored and want to chat with someone."

"I wonder how you're not the bell of the ball when no-one can see you. I don't mind, nothing much to do anyway."

"That's good, I usually don't talk for long so don't worry." Kuroko turned and began to head back down the street. "It's getting a little dark, sorry but I should be getting home now."

"Yeah, talk to you later."

With that Kuroko clicked the button to end the phone call, his body somehow feeling lighter. It wasn't a call that he was expecting, but he was glad he got to speak to Kagami today.

….

Beep, beep, bee-

There was a soft click as Kagami ended the call and fell back against the couch, exhausted from just how many emotions he ran through in that one phone call.

But in the end it didn't turn out bad. Maybe Kuroko thought he was a bit of a creep but he could explain it all away when they went to the beach together. Hm, it might be more fun if they invited the rest of the basketball team there as well. Would he have to wear a swim suit? Or, probably a shirt and a swim suit, maybe he should text Kuroko about whether or not he was wearing a swim suit. On second thought Kuroko said he would text so he should let him text first. And on that note he should probably ask Kuroko if he's inviting people anyway. Besides it's not like their houses were actually anywhere near the beach anyway so dragging everyone out there would be more trouble than it's worth. He probably shouldn't bring it up with Kuroko just in case the guy was planning to invite blondie or someth-

"GAH!" Kagami shot up with a panicked look. "I forgot to actually ask him dammit!"

The one thing he actually called him for, now he would have to ask him something awkward at the beach! (It wasn't a conversation he wanted to have over text after all).

"Dammit, that son of a bitch, it's his fault for making me start talking about other stuff!" He growled.

Agh this was going to bug him till his grave, and Kuroko was probably going to send him there.

.

Chapter 8: END

.

* * *

The previous version of this chapter explained that it was super rushed and poorly edited but now this chapter is fully edited and complete and everything is awesome so hope you enjoyed it as much as I am now proud of it~ Also this chapter is super long so I'm putting that as making up for it.

Next chapter will be a lovely beach setting~ Also, my treat, a special appearance of a certain character for all to enjoy!


	9. Together

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Chapter 9: Let's Spend the Day Together

.

"So… are you okay?" Kuroko stared worriedly at his friend who was hiding in the corner of an alleyway.

They'd only just met outside the station close to the beach when suddenly Kagami seemed like a completely different person. Kuroko had to chase him as he ran to the nearest turn and tried to turn into a ball against the wall.

"Do you feel sick? There is a water stall down by the bridge. Here, I'll get some while you-"

"DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE WITH THAT THING!"

Kuroko blinked. He straightened himself up and gave Kagami a strange look.

"Kagami-kun, could it be…" He took a step forward, the red-head flinched. "Are you afraid of dogs?"

In Kuroko's arms rested a dog small enough to fit in a basket, nice and fluffy and gentle, probably a puppy.

"Maybe… just… a little…" Kagami's voice shook as he peeked round for just a safe second.

"Bark Bark~"

"GAhHah!" The red-head hid his head against the wall and shivered like a newborn dear.

Kuroko wasn't quite sure what to think, this was a new experience indeed. He took a moment to stare at him before he could come up with something to say.

"It's fine Kagami, really. He was a stray but I got him checked out at the vet and everything. My parents don't know I still have him so I don't get to spend much time with him, and animals are allowed on the beach during the festival time."

"Yeah, that's just dandy isn't it…" Kagami trembled and kept his head covered. "Jeez, here I was worrying about stuff like whether or not I should go swimming and how much money I should bring, then I show up and this happens!"

Kuroko kept an unsure expression until he heard the dog whining up at him. He looked down and sighed while stroking him.

"Well there's not much I can do about it now. I still want to go to the festival with Kagami-kun but if he can't at least stand up then it can't be helped…"

With that the ghostly male turned and began to walk off, leaving Kagami in the corner watching him through a gap through his fingers. The red-head did stop trembling, but he could practically feel the dog smirking at him with smug thoughts of winning over its master from him – though in reality the puppy was just smiling while staring at all the brightly coloured things.

"Gaah, dammit Kuroko…" He growled and stood up shakily. After steeling his resolve with a gulp he ran after him. "Oi, wait for me already!"

….

It got sorted in the end.

Kind of.

The sun's rays cast themselves down onto the full sandy beach on this cheery festival day. The sights and sounds of families enjoying themselves and stalls selling their wares would cheer up the most tense of travellers. Kagami and Kuroko walked down to the beach and towards the crowded area together, with about three meters distance between them. Luckily it was still a little early in the festival so it wasn't too loud for them to not hear each other – plus not many people noticed Kuroko so Kagami just looked like a guy casually, yet cautiously, walking by himself. What the pair lacked in physical similarity, they made up for in style. Both had knee-length shorts with trunks underneath and T-shirts on top, though with Kuroko's pale burnable skin he opted for more sleeve than the red-head. He had at one time pointed out Kagami's admirable tan and got a partial-life-long story about America which – while he wasn't told much apart from his basketball tales – was foreign and enticing in itself.

"Nigou?" Kagami frowned, looking over to the ghost in between him and the sea. It was a little easier when looking just at Kuroko's face, though whenever the dog raised its head his eyes flinched away. "You named it number two?"

"Furihata and the others named him."

"The other first years?"

"Yes. We met by chance since they were hanging out a couple of days ago. They named him together because apparently he looks like me. When the other two left, me and Furihata were discussing whether or not it was a good name and we decided yes."

"I see." Kagami's stare turned slightly bitter. "Is that really something you should decide with him? It's not like it's Furi's dog as well."

The tone of his voice sounded a little different to Kuroko. He decided to observe the red-head for a moment before speaking.

"Are you angry, Kagami?"

"No way. Why would I be?" The red-head raised a brow.

"I don't know, you just suddenly looked very annoyed." He turned his head back to the dog in his arms, giving it another pet as it smelled something it liked and looked at him with begging eyes. "Perhaps you were annoyed that you couldn't get in on the naming, or that the others are okay with having a dog around when you are not."

"…Yeah. Probably the second one."

Kuroko's eyes trailed back to Kagami. It could be his imagination but he had a very distant look. Seeing Kagami liked that dragged Kuroko's heart down in a way that he couldn't ignore. He wondered what was bothering him. Meanwhile the dog in his arms was becoming a little agitated that he could smell all kinds of tasty goodness and wasn't being led to any of them. He struggled and wiggled until eventually he broke free of Kuroko's arms entirely, catching the ghostly boy by surprise as it kicked off his chest.

"Ah- Nigou!"

With a bark the dog landed on the sand and ran to the closest food stall.

"Wait, don't run off Nigou!" Kuroko panicked and ran after him, completely forgetting any issues that had come to mind before.

The dog immediately targeted a display row of succulent chicken in all its forms, the owner too busy with a couple to see the rampaging threat that was the hungry puppy. Kuroko's feet thumped against the uneven hot sand ground as he chased him, already breathless from the rush of the situation when suddenly the world seemed to slip upwards a good metre.

"Ghwa-!"

All sound rushed in his ears and Kuroko shut his eyes and tensed up as his feet slipped into the sink hole. The feeling gravity failing him for the short moment was a scary one, but it ended quickly with the thud of his back hitting the ground and his slipping foot hitting something solid. It took a dizzy moment before he got his bearings again but finally he sat up with a groan and shook his head of the sand that had snuck into his hair.

"Kuroko!"

His eyes were squinted against the sun as he looked around to see Kagami above him.

"Ah- I'm fine, really, I just slipped."

"Are you sure?" Kagami fussed as he knelt down next to him and looked him up and down. "No shock?"

"A little, but other than that…" Kuroko shuffled a bit, testing himself. Then he moved his feet to try to stand up and flinched. "Ah, I might have twisted my ankle just a bit."

"Tch, I knew it." The red-head frowned and grabbed his arm, only for Kuroko to snatch it back again.

"It's really nothing, just a moment and I will be fine again."

"That doesn't matter! You shouldn't have run off without me, what if something worse happened?"

Kuroko was surprised at how aggravated Kagami was about this but tried to hold his ground.

"I don't need protecting Kagami-kun, this isn't a dangerous place." Kuroko reaffirmed, getting up with seemingly no trouble.

Kagami grit his teeth, holding off Kuroko's frown with his own pissed-off stare. It didn't seem to be breaking at all until a little muffled bark came from in front of where Kuroko had fallen. Kagami's head turned towards the tail-wagging dog, looking pleased with himself with a big piece of chicken in its mouth, and gave it his most vile stare yet.

"You little…" He growled, reaching down and picking up Nigou by his collar. The little dog let out a yelp and dropped its chicken, struggling and whining as it was strangled by being raised up. "Don't try to act cute, because of you-"

"Kagami-kun!"

Kagami snapped out of his growling anger before he could even get started, his eyes travelling down towards Kuroko whose expression made all his remaining rage flee in an instant.

This was the first time he had seen Kuroko actually angry.

"Put him down."

Kuroko's eyes glared him down with an icy cold that commanded without fear, his features that of an angered emperor. The red-head stared for a second longer until another whine came from the struggling dog. He 'tsk'ed at Nigou before putting him down a little rougher than he should have.

"What do I care. Have fun with your stupid dog!" He yelled and stormed off beyond the stalls.

Kuroko watched him go, his expression unchanging until he finally went out of sight. Finally he sighed, looking away in disappointment.

"Are you okay?" He knelt down and asked in the gentlest voice he could muster at the moment.

Nigou whined and cried in his puppy voice as he nuzzled against Kuroko's comforting hand. He didn't seem to want the chicken anymore so Kuroko tore off a tiny bit that wasn't covered in sand and took a bite before taking another piece and feeding it to the poor puppy.

"Sorry. After looking forward to it for so long, and then someone friendly turns into a villain. It's not fair for you, is it Nigou?"

….

Strangely enough, as the sun's rays began to dim, the festival started to get busier and busier.

Louder music began to fill the air and people were already starting to make floating paper lamps to burn candles in, let float across the calming sea and up through the night sky. When the night sky got there of course. With more people crowding the beach and more lively shows going on here and there, it really was starting to feel like a festival.

And it was the last place Kagami wanted to be right now.

So with a toothpick sticking out of his mouth and a stomach satisfied from grumpy eating, the red-head stood on the pathway overlooking the beach, leaning against the rock wall that separated gravel from sand. He had been standing there so long that it had become a lot easier to block out the sound and blur the colours of the sea with the sky. If you asked if he was okay he wouldn't be able to tell you. He'd been feeling a lot of weird things lately. It wasn't until a low but shy growl-like bark sounded out near him that he was snapped out of his stupor.

"Hn?" He looked down and saw a sad puppy staring up at him. "Nigou?" He blinked twice, staring a little more. "NIGOU!"

All of a sudden he yelled and jumped back, sending the dog running off to hide behind the near sign.

After Kagami caught his breath and stopped himself from having a heart attack he stared warily at the dog that was looking at him with equal caution. Nigou was sticking his head out from behind the sign saying 'Free Hot Dogs With Every 10z Steak!' which, admittedly, was Kagami's kind of deal.

"…Wait." Slowly the red-head straightened up, watching the dog begin to quiver just from that. "Ah… you're afraid of me too now, right." He sighed and scratched his cheek, looking away with a guilty expression. "I guess I was a little harsh…"

Kagami contemplated this situation a little more before looking back at Nigou who was judging whether it was safe to leave the sign's protective shelter or not.

"Why the hell is Kuroko not with you? Don't tell me you ran away again…" He sighed and ever so slowly stepped forwards.

Nigou flinched back behind the sign but didn't move much from there, though it did make Kagami wonder how he was going to get forgiveness from this canine to rest his guilty soul.

"Hey, look, I'm not gonna hurt you…" He spoke a little softer, kneeling down and tossing his tooth pick. Just like he had seen on TV he gently offered his hand to the dog. "What I did before was wrong. I'm surprised I could even do it. I just, I was just worried about Kuroko, ya know? I like him too ya fluffy bastard…"

At first there wasn't any reaction and Kagami had to push his impatience deep down as he only allowed himself to gently coax the dog closer with gestures. Ever so slowly Nigou began to wobble out from behind the sign. Eventually he made it to his hand, and Kagami had to use all of his strength not to run when the dog began to sniff and tickle his fingers. He was violently shaking at this point but still kept his hand in place as Nigou slowly stuck his tongue out and licked the tip of his finger.

Kagami froze up completely and an uncharacteristic high-pitched whine came from his throat. Though he seemed to be looking completely away from the puppy, when Nigou looked up at him he could vaguely see him wag his tail. With that he completely changed, he jumped away, turned to face away from the dog, grinned and grunted with the biggest fist pump he'd ever done. Clearly he had passed some kind of trial sent by the Gods.

Suddenly the sound a chuckle came through the wind and it sent a shiver up Kagami's spine. Slowly he turned, and sure enough the puppy was now several feet off the ground in the arms of a ghost.

"JEEbus WHERE did you come from?!" If he hadn't grabbed the wall just in time Kagami definitely would have fallen on his face.

"I've been here the whole time. You didn't notice because you were trembling before Nigou."

"I-I wasn't trembling, stop making him sound like an evil overlord!"

Kuroko smiled his usual gentle smile and pet the now happy puppy in his arms. "It was kind of cute." He turned out to see the beach and sea with the sun ever so slowly getting closer to the horizon.

"Tch, I still haven't made friends with that dog you know…"

"Yes you have, but that's not what I'm talking about. Seeing you so happy after being able to get close to him was adorable."

Kagami froze up, his face turning tomato red.

"T-That was, you bastard- I wouldn't have acted like a kid if I knew I was being watched by some stalker!"

"Is that so…" Kuroko hummed, bringing out a little more chicken that he had saved from earlier to give to the dog. "That's a shame. I like being able to see different sides of you."

Kagami stared at him with a peculiar look before his gaze rested on the shore as well.

"You're one to talk." He half mumbled, making Kuroko look to him curiously. "You've shown a lot of different sides today…"

Kuroko kept his gaze for a moment longer before looking back and repeating his phrase. "Is that so…"

The suns rays began to slowly get dimmer and dimmer as it bathed the beach. The noise of the crowd had subsided into the subtle crash of the waves and the feel of the breeze blowing through from over shore was relaxing enough. Kuroko had decided to let Nigou rest on the wall as he leaned on his arms and took in the view before him. The salty smell of the ocean, the warmth of the fading sun, he wouldn't admit such useless information but it was all completely new to him. He was still quite young after all. They both were.

"Kagami-kun." He began, keeping his gaze steady as the red-head glanced over to him. "I haven't been very truthful to you."

Kagami frowned, leaning his head into a palm and looking at Kuroko sarcastically.

"What, are you gonna tell me your parents aren't really richy-rich and this was all some kind of test?"

"I don't joke often, but that might be a good prank." He said monotone as ever. "I might have led you to believe that you were my only friend. When I mentioned hanging around with the others you seemed a little confused, so I should tell you now that I do indeed consider the whole Seirin team to be my friends. As well as this, I still consider my old friends from Teiko to still be in that zone somewhere as well."

Kagami could only think of this as Kuroko's way of showing off.

"Yeah well I don't care about your old buds if they're anything like blondie but, I'm not surprised about the team thing." He put more weight onto his hand as he glared lazily out to sea. "It's normal, and I guess I know where you're coming from."

"That is a very Kagami response. Do you think of the team as your friends?"

"Probably. I haven't been back in the country long enough to really get many friends, already had a fight with my brother and I dunno how long the truce is gonna last…"

Kuroko actually looked surprised at that.

"I didn't know you had a brother."

"Uhh, not by blood. He's just a guy I met while in America who moved back here around the same time as me. We got pretty close and at some point we promised to be brothers."

"How different." Kuroko hummed, glancing away as he remembered some repressed memories. "Perhaps he is like Ogiwara-kun."

"Who?"

"My oldest friend. I don't know if I can call him that anymore though. I haven't even spoken to him since the breakdown of my old team, I'm sure he should hate me."

Kagami was surprised to hear that Kuroko might have an enemy, but the ghost boy showed no emotion. Eventually he stared at him with suspicion, wanting to know more about who this 'old friend' was but also trying – and failing miserably – to tell what Kuroko was thinking.

A pause settled into the strange new atmosphere.

"I can't really say much but…" Kagami caught Kuroko by surprise with a large hand pushed down onto his head to ruffle his hair. "Whatever reason you say that, I bet he can't hate you if he's like my brother. Probably a hypocrite just like him…"

Kuroko blinked as he stared up at him, his hair a little messy after Kagami removed his hand and went back to leaning on the wall. His eyes were wide for a moment but he smiled as he saw that they were just a little closer than before.

"Maybe. I like to think that I am wrong." He leaned against the wall and played with Nigou's paw. "When I meet him one more time, I would like to have Kagami-kun by my side."

"Eh? Why should I meet a friend of yours when you got issues?"

"Because Ogiwara-kun is quite special to me. But… I'm not sure. I feel strong when I am with Kagami-kun. Besides," he smiled up to the taller male, "If he and Ogi could be friends then I would be especially happy."

Kagami pouted with a blush, pretending he wasn't a little honoured at Kuroko's sentiments. "Your head works in weird ways man."

"I'm sure you're right." Kuroko laughed and returned his attention to Nigou while Kagami found himself smiling again.

He watched him play with the dog and suddenly realized that his fear had disappeared a while ago. It reminded him that he had been wondering if maybe he had changed in the time he had come to know Kuroko. Admittedly, this is the first time Kagami considered tackling his feelings about him. The ghost was quiet and honest, and even though he openly admitted his biggest issues to him like it was just another conversation, he didn't know a thing about the guy. Oh, except that he liked vanilla shakes. Heh, that was kinda cute. Wait- not that kind of cute like- you know. It wasn't like the usual friendship he should expect but, Kagami wanted to know more about this guy. He wanted to know more, and he wanted to be with him more as well.

Ugh these thoughts were going to be the death of him, was he the only one like this?

"Kuro-"  
"Kaga-"

Both of them froze.

Kuroko immediately turned his head away like he was embarrassed. "Sorry, you can speak."

"Ah- no, I was just gonna ask, umm, about that Ogi guy."

"Oh. Well, go ahead."

Crap, now he had to think about this.

"I… was wondering, that guy is really important to you right? I'm guessing you've known him for a long time, I can't take that you want me to meet him 'just because'."

"Ah…" Kuroko's stoic expression seemed just a little softer for this answer. "That is because Kagami-kun is kind of special like that as well."

Kagami paused, watching Kuroko who didn't dare look at him. He felt a new heat come to his cheeks and turned his head away quickly.

"A-Alright, your turn."

"Eh?"

"You wanted to ask something too so ask it."

"Oh- right. Uhh, It's not really a question. I wanted to say I like finding out about new things about Kagami-kun too, and now I know about your brother as well so I feel happy."

"R-Really?" Kagami blinked, then shocked himself into not acting like a kawaii animu wifu. "I mean, what makes you say that now?"

"I'm, not quite sure myself." Kuroko's tone was soft like a cluster of feathers, his gaze much warmer than usual with the smile on his lips from the silliness of the situation still remaining. "I am simply happier now than I have been in a long time, maybe because I have learned a lot. That you are afraid of dogs, that sometimes you take pride in your cooking, that - even though you are quite intimidating - a lot of the time you are in fact very caring…"

Kagami stared at him for a moment before his own gaze turned tired.

"I'm pretty sure those things aren't supposed to be compliments."

At that point Kuroko let out a slight laugh and again his mood changed Kagami's expression into a smile.

"Oi… Kuroko."

Both looked to each other with similar expressions. Neither held their stress from earlier, neither looked at the other with any uncertainty. It was only when Kagami noticed the strangest urge inside of him that the mood reverted and his smile turned back into nothing.

"We… should light one of those lamps, before they all run out."

"Ah, you're right."

Sensing the mood Nigou sat up and barked softly, making Kagami – flinch but not as much as before. Kuroko almost smirked at that.

"You can come with us, if it's alright with Kagami-kun."

Kagami didn't look too sure.

"Kagami-kun is very sorry after all, aren't you?"

A shock ran up the red-head's spine. Then he looked away and scratched the back of his head with a nervous smile. "Y-Yeah, of course, I already said…"

"Good." Kuroko turned to him with the happy Nigou in his hands, his expression returned to stoic but his eyes were shining like the mischievous ghost he was. "Then Kagami-kun can carry Nigou all the way to the beach."

"Wha- I never agreed to that!"

"Kagami-kun is friends with Nigou now after all so he should definitely carry Nigou."

"I said I'm not doing that!"

Kuroko's gaze sharpened as he stepped forward, Kagami shaking as he took a step back. For a moment there was calm before the storm.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Kagami-kun, Nigou wants to be carried by you!"

As onlookers passed by they could only see a young man running away from someone carrying a dog.

.

Chapter 9: End

.

* * *

A little behind the scenes for you, this was originally two chapters with the half after Kagami runs off called 'Understand my side of this' (Understand for the chapter bar) – I'm a fan of behind the scenes stuff so I thought I might share it!

I wanted to do something on here for KagaKuro day but it was way too awkward to fit in between chapters, so instead I made a 2-chapter fic completely separate from this called 'A Long Time Ago' that you may enjoy if you like drama and heartbreaking/fixing story, so if you want more KagaKuro there's my gift to you~

Next chapter is with Kuroko and Kagami all friendly again, although there might be a bit of confusion on the level of friendliness between them! Stay tuned~


	10. Time

.

Chapter 10: I Don't Mind Calling This Time L-v-

.

"Was it broken?"

"Nah nah, just some weird bump, but can you imagine me with a huge nose for 3 days straight?"

Kuroko shook his head, hiding away his expression since Kagami was already smirking at how he was obviously trying not to laugh.

By this time there was no-one else on the beach, even the vendors had packed up shop and gone home and when they tried to find a place with ice cream they gave up after 20 minutes of walking and just came down to sit on the sand. The stars and moon were lighting up the space well on the cloudless night and the calming sound of the waves didn't interrupt their chatter. The reflections of far away lights on the surface of the water were a sight to behold and accompanied every moment of silence with a romantic feeling.

"Your teacher sounds very strong. And fearsome. I don't know of anyone who can do that with a basketball."

"Hell yeah she is, but she only did it because I pissed her off so, you know, don't do that. Legend has it she once broke the hoop 'cause someone said 'women can't play'."

"Really? That sounds kind of dangerous."

"Probably just a rusty screw loose or something. Man I wanna do that someday."

"Please do not hurt yourself doing it."

"I won't. Or maybe I should make you do it just in case."

"I think it is clear I won't be dunking anytime soon." Kuroko looked at him with a sarcastic stare.

"Oh yeah?" Kagami smirked. "How about I hold you on my shoulders for the next game?"

"I doubt it would be allowed."

"Doesn't mean we can't try. Besides, who knows if you're gonna stay a shortie forever?"

The red-head laughed and ruffled his head but Kuroko looked less than impressed.

"I will grow taller. And then I shall fell Kagami like a beautiful maiden."

"Eh?" Kagami was slightly taken aback. "As if. I'm more of a dragon than a maiden don't'cha think?"

"Perhaps. I suppose the knight saving the dragon would make for a good story."

"How about you put it into practice and save me from coach next time instead of slinking away?"

"I don't intend to change that much."

"Too much to ask for huh?"

Kagami laughed and leaned back on his palms, staring at the ocean. He didn't notice Kuroko keep his gaze on him. The ghost held his stare for a long moment before he looked away in jealousy of Kagami's look of confidence.

"I hope I can grow taller one day." Kuroko gazed at the sand that shifted in the breeze as Kagami turned his attention to him. "That way I can be more like Kagami-kun. I could do all the things I have wished to do. I could dunk in secret, but still help people and make people happy by being the phantom sixth in the open."

For a moment as Kagami stared at him. Some ants passed through Kuroko's vision, carrying sweets back to their home.

"You, really like to help people, don't you?" Kagami said in such a way that it was more of a statement than a question.

"I'm not sure if that is the way to put it. I suppose I enjoy the company." Kuroko paused for a moment before his wide eyes looked to Kagami again. "What about you?"

Kagami had to pause before replying.

"…Nah."

With a shrug he looked forward and after a moment Kuroko followed suit. It might be the fact that it was getting late but it seemed the conversation was dying now. Neither of them looked at each other and, though they weren't uncomfortable, the sound of the ocean was suddenly very useful as a distraction.

"I think you are much more generous than you realize." Kuroko said all of a sudden.

"What makes you say that?"

"Just the fact that you stayed here after you ran off. Even though you keep saying that I am a stalker child you welcomed me quickly enough. I think the you I saw on the first night and the you that has accepted me are very different people." Kuroko relaxed slightly but still didn't look into Kagami's now wide eyes. "The you I have gotten to know is… very admirable, in my opinion."

"Kuroko…"

What was he saying? Surely they hadn't known each other long enough to be saying stuff like that. But, if he took his word for it, wasn't he saying that really Kuroko hadn't changed him at all? In that case, these feelings really must be…

"Ah, sorry." Kuroko shook his head and looked back to Kagami with a normal expression. "I'm saying strange things. Please do not listen to me. I suppose I got a little sentimental."

"Uh, yeah…" Kagami shrugged and looked away before clicking it. "Wait, why sentimental?" He frowned.

Kuroko seemed to be uncomfortable for a second but didn't pause for too long.

"I'm a little jealous of Kagami-kun. That you can talk about your interesting past so easily. For me it is a little harder, my best times always remind me of my worst."

Once again he seemed to not care about his own words and pretend that he was doing nothing more than speaking his mind. Kagami wondered if sometimes Kuroko spoke without figuring out why he was saying it.

"…It's the same for me." Kagami responded as he caught Kuroko glancing back at him. "My past is… basically there's a lot that makes those times a little painful. I'm not gonna let those good times just fade away though. Those bad times aren't worth the pain."

Kuroko's eyes widened and he found himself staring at Kagami with wonder once again. But as soon as he realized what he was doing he shook his head and lowered his gaze with slight red on his cheeks.

"Once again you say such admirable things…"

Despite Kuroko acting like nothing had happened Kagami wasn't so fine with that. He frowned and pressed Kuroko's hair down onto his forehead.

"Don't try to distract me! You can't just expect me to ignore it after you keep talking about me like I'm someone better than you."

"I-It's not that vague…" Kuroko glanced up to him through his pushed down hair. "You are just… idyllic, I want to be more like you."

"Is that really what you mean?"

Kagami's expression was much more persistent than usual and Kuroko found himself almost slipping up. The smaller hit away the hand and tried to regain his composure.

"Of course it is. Let's talk about something more interesting."

"This is plenty interesting to me."

"It is beginning to get embarrassing for me."

"That makes me want to talk about it more."

Kuroko glared at Kagami who was smirking knowingly in return.

"You are very cruel."

"You're one to talk."

He didn't deny that part but he didn't say anymore either.

This time silence fell into a much more unusual tension. The exchange of wit between them had left Kuroko with a nervous smile that caught all of the red-head's attention.

Was it bad that recently he had been looking at his face in hopes that he might learn his expressions? That and seeing any difference in the guy's face was like a sight to behold. Either way the smile that he could see on Kuroko's pale lips was something he just couldn't ignore. No matter how hard his thoughts tried to push through, his body moved for him.

"Kuroko."

The smaller male looked up, expecting to see Kagami's confident gaze but what happened next was so unexpected that for a moment the situation didn't seem to be real. The words ' _Don't change_ ' briefly passed his ears, just before a warmth pressed against him.

All noise blended together.

All sights lost their importance.

All feeling changed completely.

All Kuroko could focus on was the hand on his chin, the warmth on his lips, and the sight through his wide eyes of the red-head's own calm ruby orbs.

For this moment time seemed to slow, but his heart beat stayed the same. In fact it beat louder than ever before, right in his ear. Even though there should be a million things running through his mind, he was taken body and soul by the simple action.

But like anything such as this it ended too soon.

Kagami released a shallow breath as he moved back from the kiss and slowly began to open his eyes. Such an awkward position, just comfortable long enough for them to share the sensation of touch, heat from their bodies, heart racing tension and everything else. Neither dared move an inch, Kuroko's eyes shining as he stared still while Kagami's gaze was gentle for once.

However as the silence between them continued the gentle gaze turned to one filled with embarrassment.

"S-Sorr-" The red-head moved back quickly, reaching for his things as he stumbled, trying to stand. "Err, I, that was…" His voice was shaky in the kind of way you would see a beast cower before a larger predator, but as soon as he got his bearings his voice became clear. "I got to go!"

Kuroko was quickly snapped out of his trance as he realized the situation.

"W-Wait, Kagami-kun!" He reached up towards him but the red-head was quickly out of his reach.

The sand splayed out as Kagami's feet thumped against it, the cold air turning into breeze as he ran as fast as he could. His fists clenched, teeth gritting, and his expression practically screamed 'don't bother me I'm swearing at myself in my own head'. His heart beat in time with his feet, all of his body letting out his rage through that one poor organ.

"Dammit…" He hissed through his teeth. "Dammit!"

His eyes were forced closed, burning and stinging to distract his head.

It was then that he noticed his stomps weren't the only thing making noise on the sand.

 ** _"BARK!"_**

"GAH!"

Kagami flinched, knocking himself off balance. His foot slid back in the sand and he landed on his back with a thud and a grunt. The footsteps only stopped a moment after his own and with a groan he shook his head and looked up to see that Nigou had run in front of him. The little bastard just had to pull this stunt now, just after they had made up too.

"You little…"

"Kagami-kun!"

The red-head froze up, hearing footsteps behind him as Kuroko finally managed to catch up. He stayed on the ground, sitting up and staring at his knees. He had to try and avoid the ghostly male's eyes as much as he could.

"Kuroko. I… that was-"

"I don't mind."

Kagami opened his eyes. He turned his head and looked up in surprise.

"You-GWAH!" The red-head got shocked again by Kuroko's face being a lot closer than he expected. "S-Stop doing that!" He sighed, winded.

"Kagami-kun." Kuroko stood up straight once more, staring at his friend with a more serious expression. "I don't mind that you kissed me."

"You don't, mind?" Kagami gulped while catching his breath. "What, what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means…" He started, but seemed to trail off.

The ghost closed his eyes and crossed his arms in thought. Kagami, who was kinda uncomfortable at this point, sat there staring at him with a nervous expression. He turned towards him and crossed his legs, trying to focus on staying calm and patient. It didn't last for long though.

"Come on already! If it's just me I don't care so hurry up and tell me I'm not right for you or something!" He was practically shaking; he wished he had never done something so stupid and reckless.

Why did he even do that in the first place? It was so dumb! He didn't even know the guy enough to assume that he _wanted_ to kiss him. But, no matter what he said, the thing he hated most was that every part of his being had wanted that kiss.

Although Kagami seemed angry at himself, Kuroko remained calm until he finally opened his eyes again.

"It means it didn't feel wrong."

"…Eh?"

Kagami blinked, all of his nervous anger washing away as he watched Kuroko move to sit beside him once more – this time even closer.

"I mean it. In fact, I am glad. It was perfect." Even with his blank expression, Kuroko said that with 100% honesty. "But, I had always assumed you were straight."

"Y-Yeah, well, I presumed you were as well from the way you reacted…"

"I'm sorry. It must have been scary."

"Don't patronize me you bastard!"

Kuroko let out a small smile and closed his eyes for a brief moment.

"When you kissed me it was quite a shock, I can't deny that I felt confused at first. But neither can I deny that I have been confused about _you_ for a while now as well. None of this feels wrong to me; right now I am more worried about it feeling wrong to you."

Kagami gulped and drew his eyes away. He tried to think of what to say but in the end just sighed and collapsed onto his back as he finally confronted these weird feelings that had been bugging him.

"It… doesn't really feel _bad_. Weird is a better word for it."

"Yes it is a little weird."

"We don't have to be lovey-dovey everywhere right?"

"Not at all."

"And… does this mean that we're like, dating?"

"Well…" Kuroko got up onto his knees and Kagami looked up in confusion as the ghost leaned over him with a surprisingly genuine smile. "Neither of us have asked each other on a date yet."

Kagami felt his nervous heartbeat return to him but tried to keep his cool.

"…Does taking you to the beach count?"

"I don't know. Does it?"

"Gah you-!" Kagami launched his hand up and caught Kuroko's head in his grip, turning over and throwing him over his body, head first into the sand. "Don't be one of those people!"

Without making any annoyed or painful noises Kuroko slowly lifted himself up as Kagami lay back down like a grump. He balanced himself with one hand and brushed the sand away – specifically onto Kagami's shirt – with the other.

"That still doesn't answer my question. Did you ask me here because you needed a buddy or because you wanted to come here with me?"

Kagami growled and made a face, but saw Kuroko looking at him through his sandy hair and just looked away with a blush.

"You kept talking about how you wanted to get away from your fancy lifestyle. Plus… I wanted to spend more time with you."

He sighed and took a breath, Kuroko's gaze softening as he took those words to mean he was being tsundere.

"Then yes." Kagami looked back to see Kuroko once again smiling at him, now even more on top of him thanks to the red-head's rage. "This counts as a date."

Kuroko's smile seemed to grow even more, the feelings it portrayed never to be spoken. With the moon shining on them both Kagami saw the shadow of the other above him, the pale light outlining him perfectly down to the specs of sand still spotting his neck. His hand tensed into a fist as he held back a gulp. Damn he was too young for this, these weird feelings that came to him every time he saw this guy nowadays. But he wouldn't know it was the same for Kuroko. He could see the usually tanned red-head now bathed in the pale light, every aspect illuminated as he always saw him no matter what the lighting. In a perfect situation like this he could stop and stare at every little detail.

Or so he thought.

Kuroko was almost caught off guard when Kagami's arm wrapped around the back of his neck. The red-head's expression didn't change but something about him seemed like a cat wanting attention. Kuroko internally laughed and balanced himself properly before leaning down more.

As if in unison their heartbeats sped up as they got closer, cheeks flaring up a shade of red as their lips met for something more tender.

Being so close, it was so warm. The sound of the waves filled their ears and blocked the outside world.

It really was a perfect moment. But, after that moment ended, Nigou got sick of being by himself and whined as he ran up to the two bigger beings. He came round to Kuroko's side as the ghost collapsed onto his back with a sigh and howled politely to get attention. Kuroko looked up and smiled with open arms, welcoming Nigou as the dog crawled onto his chest to receive his petting.

"Oh yeah," Kagami mused as he brought his arms behind his head and watched the two. "We never did get to go swimming."

Kuroko hummed in response as he continued to pet the puppy while paying attention to the tiger beside him.

"We can always come back tomorrow. Apparently it's sunny weather through the weekend."

"Is that so?" Again the red-head stared off into the starry sky as he nervously contemplated something. "In that case…" He looked at Kuroko out of the corner of his eye and sighed as he sat up. "Wanna stay at mine tonight?"

At this position now Kagami was the one who was shadowed. Kuroko stared at him with blue eyes that shined in the moonlight, his thoughts fleeting as he took in the shadow before him. Kagami-kun looked kinda cool.

"Okay."

Ah, when was the last time he had smiled this much? A thought they both shared in this peaceful moment.

.

Chapter 10: End

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* * *

The little babus are finally together, I'm so proud of them TTuTT I like to imagine they've spent everyday since getting each other's number chatting whenever they're bored (and sometimes in boring classes too).

To celebrate the 10th chapter I made a Halloween Special just for you lovely people that is set in between this and the next chapter, I'm sure you will all enjoy that whether you read it after this chapter or right at the end.

So don't worry there's still more to go, after all we cant just leave these hopeless basket-heads to have a peaceful life now can we? Hope you enjoyed the chapter, see you guys on Hallow's Eve!


	11. Apart

Back to normal chapters now, past the half-way point of Great Expectations! The fanfic with a title ripped off of a book that has a story nothing like this one!

So without further adue, here is the basketball dumbs going back to being awkward and confused!

* * *

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Chapter 11: Concerning The Worlds Keeping Us Apart

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At such a young age, what were they to think of lust? Of love?

It was something they couldn't grasp, couldn't feel as a whole. And they clearly hated that.

With such young minds they could only touch, the sin of skin beneath the clothes only peeking its head as they kept to nightwear in the full moon.

Hand on hip, lip on lip, fingers gracing every goosebump.

Soft.

It was strange, but tempting. It made them want.

But, Kagami wasn't about to do something wrong. He let go of Kuroko's wrist and moved his lips away from under his chin.

In return the ghostly male sighed something of loss and exhaustion and slowly shuffled back enough to be able to sit up. He gulped silently and rubbed the skin that had felt the shock of intimacy just a moment ago, fixing up his ridden-up shirt with his other hand. His cheeks were burning and he couldn't deny that the feelings running through him were… appealing. Not to mention Kagami was looking like a grumpy puppy in front of him.

Kuroko showed a small smile and gave his sad tiger a subtle kiss on the nose.

"Sorry. It must be hard to guess what feels right."

"No, it's not that. I, I knew it would be kinda like this. Just…"

The red-head looked away. Kuroko wondered if it was because the tiger had felt warm in the crook of his neck.

It was dark in Kagami's room, they had decided to go straight to bed since by the time they got back it was already early morning. Predictably this led to them testing out how cuddly they could get now that their feelings were out in the open, which ultimately led to Kagami pushing the boundaries until they were in this position.

The sad tiger pouted and stayed as he was. He held himself in front of Kuroko's legs but looked at him almost impatiently as he waited for whatever the ghost would suggest next, whether they would just sleep or stay conscious in each other's company a little longer.

It wasn't until Kuroko had gathered himself that he realized the ghost had a peculiar expression on his face.

"What's wrong?" Kagami asked.

He got Kuroko's attention and noticed the reluctant pause. Finally the smaller rested his back against the pillows, eyes down.

"I am slightly scared."

"What?" Kagami jolted. "What is it? Am I doing something weird?"

"Well, the pace you move is very intimate compared to what I expected."

"Ah, s-sorry, it's kinda normal to 'test the waters' like this back in the west…"

"Interesting, not something you mentioned before. But it's not that. If anything you look adorable trying to woo me like this."

"Oi!"

Kagami frowned at him and showed his teeth like a wild cat, Kuroko couldn't help but smile. Although that didn't last long, soon he went back to a hesitant look.

"I am afraid because I worry this is all an imagined feeling."

"What do you mean?"

Kuroko paused and thought for a second before raising his head.

"I will admit, at first you were an excuse for me to be selfish." Kagami's expression changed, but Kuroko continued. "I wanted to stay out more, do more of what I wasn't allowed. If I followed you as if I were a shadow then I could have that, and more." The ghost stared right at Kagami's shock, and for a second he looked regretful. "Doesn't it make sense that instead of falling for you I am instead just looking for some kind of freedom?"

His tone was lower, but Kuroko hid the changes in his face. Rather than a guilty look, or a sorry look, or any kind of reluctance at all, Kuroko's expression seemed blank as usual.

"…So," Kagami paused for longer than was comfortable, trying to sort the situation out in his head so that he could find the right words for it. "Basically, you're thinking: what if I'm your 'bad boy'."

"Yes."

This time Kagami was the one to look hesitant. He glanced upwards and straightened himself with a hum, but eventually just smirked at the other.

"Well then you would be the 'rich prince' fantasy." He laughed. "I aint no little princess but doesn't sound too bad to me. Anyway, as long as it feels right don't you think it's a bad idea to say it's not serious?"

"I… suppose so." Kuroko agreed, though he didn't sound very convinced.

"Right. So whatever happens, we'll deal with the problems as they come." Kagami grinned at him without a care in the world.

Kuroko just stared at him, not entirely sure how to give a genuine response.

"Right."

….

That was a few days ago now. It had been on his mind more than he wanted it to be.

"Hmm… boyfriend?"

Kagami hummed as he balanced the ball with his hand in front of his face, fighting against gravity. The other hand was being used as a pillow against the hard wooden bench. He made a face at his own words and twisted the ball idly.

"Partner… sounds kinda fancy."

He sighed and let the ball slip and hit his chest, bringing his hand down with it to keep it there.

"Friend…"

He paused.

He wished he hadn't thought of that.

What was he supposed to do? Even though he was supposed to be the one comfortable with things moving fast, everything had seemed to happen at once. Something about this didn't seem right. Even though that ghost was the one who was always blunt Kuroko seemed, kind of, apprehensive, about being too close.

Kagami groaned and got off his back to sit on the bench, followed up by him immediately bouncing the basketball as he tried to let out his frustration.

"Shouldn't I be talking about this with him? I mean he said it's fine to call it 'dating' but still. Ugh, I should have put it off a couple of years; we're both still in the first year and everything."

After what he had said it had turned out this was bugging him more than he realized. Kuroko talking about 'using him as an excuse' and 'just looking for freedom' didn't really help.

The school was pretty much empty now and Kagami didn't really feel like going home. Unlike before when he would just think of the ghost boy often, now he accepted that he just plain missed him. It even got to the point that everything seemed to remind him of that night a few days ago like it was an old nostalgia, even though they didn't exactly do anything extreme. Even the sun, ever falling beyond the stone-building horizon, reminded him of the day after when they went back to the beach to spend the day together again. He had been... happy.

"Kuroko…" The red-head caught the ball and let it rest.

How did he see him after that? How did Kuroko _feel_ about him? Kagami wanted to know so badly it hurt.

"Ah, so you _must_ be Kagami then!"

A soft yet cheery voice pierced through his train of thought. The red-head looked up to see a person he had never seen before.

About as tall as Kuroko, long pink hair that flowed in the breeze and shining pink eyes. She was wearing a uniform of some school but honestly it looked like it was about to lose a few buttons if not for the green hoodie she put over herself.

"W-Woah!"

Kagami flinched and had to jump back - he hadn't realized just how close they were until he looked at her… chest. He blushed and shook his head.

 _No- no, I shouldn't even be getting flustered! I've already enough relationship stuff to deal with!_

He tried to force himself to be noble but he seemed to catch himself off guard. Thinking about having that kind of responsibility to Kuroko only made that unwelcome feeling creep back into his chest, and it showed on his face.

"Hm? What's wrong?"

The girl got even closer and Kagami looked up with another flinch back.

"Um, no- uh, you just surprised me."

"Oh sorry, I just got excited because I heard you talking about Tetsu-kun~"

"Tets…" Kagami frowned and blinked a couple of times.

"You know, Kuroko?"

"Eh? Oh! So you call- you know what, nevermind. Did, did you hear what I was just talking about?"

"Nope, I just heard you say his name and confirmed that you are indeed Kagami-kun."

"Uh, how do you…" Kagami started but then trailed off. "Could you be, one of his old friends?"

"Yup! Oh but he didn't tell me about you, I had to research you myself."

"R-Research me."

"Yessir."

The pink haired girl smiled brightly and twirled, finally walking back a bit to give Kagami some space. She seemed like she would be a bit spacy but she spoke with some kind of reassurance that gave her a knowledgeable aura. Not to mention every mention of 'Tetsu-kun' gave her a new abundance of confidence – she was like a performer that could trick any audience to do her bidding. Although she also seemed far too innocent for anything like that, at first sight at least.

Kagami shook his head and got his act together, frowning once more as he got back on track.

"In that case, who are you? And why were you looking for me?" Well that felt like a line out of an action movie, for a moment Kagami wondered if he'd gotten wrapped up in an illegal crime group thanks to his mysterious 'boyfriend'.

"My name is Satsuki Momoi, and I wanted to find Tetsu before the dance." Momoi smiled her brightest smile and it seemed the light around her shined with good feeling.

"Kuroko's going to a dance?"

"Yup!"

"Why don't you just go to his school?"

"I'm not allowed, security is super tight. Besides I really wanna see him casually, it's probably going to be the one where Tetsu-kun and I get engaged."

The atmosphere dropped to a subzero temperature.

"You and…" Kagami's eyes widened as he slowly straightened up.

"And Kuroko." Momoi giggled and rolled her eyes, like the only problem was that Kagami couldn't figure out who it was already.

She said it again. So easily.

"You are, you're joking right?"

"Hm? Oh right it would look kinda weird to you. Yeah, our parents want us to hurry up with that kind of stuff 'just in case' you know? Something about us being loose canons, keeping close ties, making sure we don't get with 'the wrong type of person', you know. That's why I wanted to find Tetsu before the dance so we wouldn't have just awkwardness all night."

"You…" Kagami was startled, stumbling as he stood up. He had to physically stop himself from grabbing her. "W-Wait a- just how old is Kuroko? No- more importantly, why the hell is it _you_ two getting married?!"

Momoi jumped back, eyes wide. Kagami realized he had yelled at her.

"I'm… sorry?"

"N-No…" Kagami shook his head and tried to get himself back in place. "I, umm, I'm just, very confused right now. Didn't mean to, shout."

"Uhuh… well it's just how things go between our families. It's not like he proposed or anything, romance doesn't really come into wealth or status." Momoi huffed nonchalantly, noticing Kagami's reaction to that sentence on the sly. She continued with a look that said 'I will only tell the truth, whether I like it or not'. "It's just a good thing that we like each other! Imagine what it would be like if we hated each other~" Momoi sorted out her hair, too busy swooning over the fantasy Kuroko in her head to realize the heaviness of the silence between them.

The realization of just how little he knew was crushing Kagami, but it also made him realize why he was feeling so uncomfortable.

"Oi."

"Hm?"

She looked over to see Kagami with a blankly serious expression on his face.

"That dance party thing, where is it?"

"It's at Tetsu's house."

"When?"

"Saturday. Why?"

Kagami didn't answer.

Instead he grabbed the basketball and tossed it back into the open shed before turning back to the pink haired girl. The look in his eyes held back a cold that would freeze her in place.

"Tell me more about Tetsuya."

….

Anyone who looked at them would assume they were a couple, but that's just the effect Momoi had on people. While Kagami kept his hands shoved in his pockets walking along like some wannabe thug, the pink haired girl chatted along with a spring in her step.

"A… winner stick?"

"Yup!" Momoi cheered and then sunk her face into her hands as she swayed with a maiden's aura. "You give it in and get a free ice-pop, and he just gave it up like it was nothing. Ah he's so mysterious, but he really is kind after all. I still remember it like it was yesterday."

Kagami made a face as he watched the pink haired admirer swoon. He hoped there wasn't something even more troublesome he didn't know about Kuroko's love life.

"Alright but, you said before that he was always like that until the end. What end?"

"Oh yeah. Well it wasn't all that long ago now that I think about it, less than a year definitely." Momoi's expression lost its peppiness and instead she sighed with some kind of sadness. "Tetsu was always kind, hard working, happy. Even when he didn't look like it there was some kind of light in his eyes that just gave you confidence. Being around him made you believe that you would never hit the ground. I bet you've seen it, especially if you play with him in games."

Kagami didn't say anything, but the way he looked away told that he had.

Momoi smiled.

"I guess you wouldn't know anything different since he's gotten back on his feet. But, at that time he wasn't the Kuroko you know."

"What happened?"

"It's… hard to define it." She looked away with a lack of confidence. "Some things happened; everyone became less of themselves one after another. I think Tetsu was hit the hardest since he had to watch everyone change while still trying so hard."

"What about you?"

"Umm, I don't think I changed. I guess I got a little depressed, whenever I went to the basketball club all it was always such a bad atmosphere."

"Wait so this is just in the basketball club?"

"Right, I guess I should explain from the start." She smiled apologetically and took a breath. Time to bring back some unwanted memories.

"You know about the old team he used to be in, right? Well at the start it was just like any other team, and then slowly everyone started to change one by one. Everyone got good, really good, better than anyone else. The miracles, that used to be a team, turned into a team of one-man teams. Tetsu-kun had his talent from the start and he couldn't exactly improve much on being the invisible man, so as everyone changed into different people he had to just take it being powerless. Obviously he didn't, if he wasn't so helpful then the everyone would have disbanded ages before that. But, he couldn't help for long. Eventually everyone surpassed him and they didn't need him anymore. His friends left him behind in the one thing he loved most of all. It was so suffocating; no-one trusted anyone with anything. When he finally gave up all he could do was trail along behind them, until finally it all broke apart. After that, every time I saw him he was still just a little broken. He didn't have a reason to continue in basketball anymore, so I think he was trying to live his life without it."

Kagami listened with an unchanging expression, watching Momoi who also had a much more deflated look than usual. For a moment he thought he could see pain in her eyes.

"Trying to live without basketball…" Kagami looked away and clenched his fist. "He really must've hated it all."

"I think so." She agreed. "I think maybe he grew to hate those closest to him as well. Maybe even himself..." Momoi's voice was a little soft, not in a good way. But then she tried to smile again. "Sorry, you should really hear this from Tetsu-kun, I can only tell you what I saw from the side lines. It must be much more difficult to live through it…"

"Don't worry, I will." Kagami almost looked like he was snarling. Oh he would ask about this alright, he was going to find out everything after all the things this girl had told him.

Poor Momoi was actually a bit intimidated. Of course considering the people she hung out with she managed to shake that off quickly enough.

"You know, come to think of it…" He looked back to see her smiling at him again, this time both soft and bright. "He's on your team now right? You really must have been something, the last time I saw him he was so much happier."

"Y-You think so?"

"I'm sure! I walked home with him recently and he was so talkative for once, especially about your team."

"Huh. I, guess that's good news." He shrugged, just a little relieved. "Wait a sec, we played against Kise before, wasn't he one of your old guys?"

"Oh yeah, Tetsu told me about that."

"I wouldn't fit him with what you just told me at all. Come to think about it, he wanted Kuroko to join his team!"

"Well, Kise was always more cheery than most, even when he changed. Tetsu-kun's not the only one who's got his spirit back up, it seems as though Kise-kun has found a team all of his own. I guess he is starting to miss the old times when they used to all be friends too."

Momoi gave a fond smile but Kagami wasn't quite sure he got all of this. It sounded like trouble, and he knew trouble. Either way he also knew he shouldn't press just in case his brain melted, so instead he tried to act calm and cool.

"Did… Kuroko say anything about me then?"

"Hm?"

"When you spoke to him."

"Oh, uhh, well he mentioned you were the one he met first."

"Anything else?"

Momoi hummed as she thought for a long moment before bouncing into a smile.

"He said you were an idiot~!"

Kagami froze up with a "Hng-" and tried to hide his pain.

"Is that, so…" He faced away and grit his teeth.

"Yeah, it was something like 'Bakagami is the biggest idiot out of the group, but he plays well and that is enough'."

" _Is that so…_ " Kagami grit his teeth more to the point of chipping thanks to his sharp teeth.

 _What the hell, not talking about me at all! And introducing me to your friends as just some idiot, you're the idiot! 'That is enough', did you go out with everyone on your basketball team? Am I just some basketball monkey to you? Son of a b-_

"Sooo is that everything you want to know about Tetsu-kun?"

"Eh?" Kagami blinked back out of his thoughts and tried to act like he wasn't having half a meltdown. "Uh, no not really. I-I mean, yes it is, there's not really much more I can ask…"

"Alrighty, if you see him tell him to come find me before Saturday okay~?"

"Yeah, sure."

As Kagami gathered his thoughts and shook his head, Momoi waved a perky wave and turned to cross the road. Only then did he realize there was one more thing he had to know.

"Wait a sec."

She stopped in surprise, turning back to see a more hesitant red-head.

"Do you… Do you care at all about being engaged to Kuroko?"

Momoi paused, wide eyed at the other. Then she smiled.

"I really do like Tetsu-kun. But… I don't know about marrying him." She shrugged a little and looked to the sky with a melancholy expression. "There are plenty of people I've never met yet that I could fall in love with even more. There is only one person as wonderful as him, so I guess I should be thankful our parents chose us to be together."

"But, don't you have a _problem_ with it? Your parents shouldn't choose that kind of stuff for you."

She laughed with a little disbelief.

"Now I see why Tetsu chose you guys, you're nothing like the people we're used to. Even Aomine isn't so, hmm, dumb?"

"Oi, that's enough..." Kagami felt like he was going to cry or if he took anymore hits to his ego.

"Haha no that's not the right word, it's like a good kind of dumb~"

"I give up…"

"Sorry sorry~ I'm wrong~" Momoi continued to laugh while Kagami continued to cry over his pride. She sighed and rubbed her eyes, then gave him a sad smile. "You should talk to Kuroko more; he won't tell me how he really feels about the whole thing. I think it would be good if he could share some of his pain for once with the people that make him happy. He has a problem expressing himself, you know?"

With that Momoi smiled and waved once more, then turned and walked off her own way in the dimming sunlight. Kagami stared at her, watching for as long as he could keep the silence before turning and heading down the few streets left to his own home.

Problems expressing himself was kind of obvious, but talking to her definitely did not clear up the problems Kagami was making for himself. In fact in terms of the 'does Kuroko think of me as a boyfriend or nah' situation, it pretty much destroyed all humble hope of the expectations he had.

Why did everything have to be so unclear with Kuroko? Why did he have to assume his feelings? If he didn't have anything to lose he would easily just straight out ask Kuroko how he really felt about him. That's what he told himself, but really he knew there wasn't anything holding him back except his own fear that he wouldn't get the best answer. Don't get him wrong, after all he just heard he found a new respect for the guy, and right now all he wanted to do was hold Kuroko in his arms and tell him he was too good for what happened to him, but the fact that Kuroko didn't even show the slightest regret to him just made him wonder if Kuroko really cared about anything.

As he came into the building and opened his apartment with a sigh Kagami wondered what the hell he was going to do about these feelings, and what he was going to do about the 'dance' on Saturday. Was it some fancy event? Was it some kind of secret mafia mixer? His brain hurt from all this speculation and thinking.

Kagami groaned like a little kid being told to do chores and tossed his keys on the table, ready to collapse onto the couch when he noticed the note his keys landed beside.

 **'Dear Kagami-kun,**

 **I found your spare key last time I was here and took it without your permission,  
now I am napping in your room. Please do not wake me as I did not get much  
sleep ****last night. Also, in case you're thinking of trying anything, I brought Nigou  
** **with me who likes sleeping next to my stomach.**

 **Kuroko.'**

Kagami clutched the piece of paper, a smirk of the pissed off nature curling his lips. His gaze only darkened as he looked over to his room which now had an aura to it that made him shiver in the worst way.

 _Son of a bitch, why can't you at least act a little ashamed!?_

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Chapter 11 End

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Yet another character has appeared, this time claiming that Kuroko's romantic life with Kagami might be short lived?! Bet you lovely people forgot about that part didn't you ;)

To summarize since it's been a while, Kagami's in first-serious-relationship turmoil spoiled even more by the fact that the only indication Kuroko feels the same way is 'It didnt feel wrong', must be rough :P  
What will Kagami do with this new information? What _can_ he do? And, what most of you are probably annoyed at me for, how does Kuroko feel about all this?

You'll have to find this out in the next chapter, when Kagami takes a step in what he hopes is the right direction!


	12. Invasion

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Chapter 12: Invasion of Privacy

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Every house in the street was bigger than the last; all with more rooms than anyone would need and an abundance of flowers and well-maintained trees in the huge front gardens.

Kagami swallowed nervously, fixing his jacket before stuffing his hands back in his pockets and playing with the cloth inside them.

He had gotten a taxi since it turned out Kuroko's house was way further than he'd thought, but what the heck was with this place? When they talked about them being in 'class' differences he didn't realize they were talking 20th century lower-upper class war. He actually had to tell the driver to slow down so that he could see signs of which house was which, it would be pointless if he couldn't do anything because he couldn't tell one showy abode from the other. Didn't help that by the time he got there it was already getting dark.

Luckily seeing lots of cars all parked in front of one particular house, which had men and women dressed in black tie welcoming people, gave him a clue.

As the driver stopped a little ways away from the predicted house and got his pay, Kagami prepared himself for anything unexpected. Really, he had no idea what to expect, not thinking about this at all before acting on it. It seemed like a good idea at the time. He closed the door on his way out and watched the car escape without him before facing his fate. No, he couldn't think of it as something bad. This is what he had chosen; wimping out now is not an option.

Taking a deep breath, he made his way down the street.

As he got closer it was obvious that the man and woman in front of the large arch-shaped bush had noticed him and already started gossiping. Well, he did look a little out of place. Baggy clothes with mis-matched colours and a constant sneer to compliment his poor posture. He thought he could easily pass as a rich snotty slob but he still wanted to punch the judgy folk around here already. But he still got past – not without giving a glare to the welcomer man, which intimidated him enough for him to be satisfied – and made his way down the brick path towards the door. On each side of him were rows of bushes followed by neatly placed and cut bushes and plants, as if they were stuck there like fairy lights. The closer to the windows they were the more were spotted around the place.

So far there wasn't anybody outside except for the welcoming party with matching uniforms, all of which completely ignored Kagami, much to his surprise. He thought for sure there would be someone asking for invites or people trying to question him, but it looked like they all assumed he wasn't here for the anyway party or something. Despite that, the door was open to the guests and he couldn't tell if he was looking into one huge ballroom or from the front door to where the back door should be.

There were people dotted about near the front, all of whom either ignored him or once again started gossiping as soon as they saw him coming closer, but while he could pass off all that there was once thing in particular he actually had to stop and stare at to believe it was there.

 _Holy freaking cow._

That guy was _huge!_ Like seriously freaking _huge_! And was that a wig on his head or does he seriously have shoulder length purple hair?!

Before the red-head, to his own disbelief, stood a veritable giant, who was leaning against the door frame being bored out of his mind. Even slanted he looked to be twice as tall as every average person at the party at a glance. If he wasn't dishevelled as crap and munching on the calamity of sweets in his hands Kagami would have thought he would be twice his age too. The red-head actually stood there for a good few seconds, mouth agape, before the other noticed him standing there.

"What is it?" The giant frowned at him with a pout as childish as his manners. "If you're here to beg for my miaubo I'll crush you."

Kagami was struck even more confused than before. In the guy's hand was a pile of sweets he had probably just snatched from inside, while in his mouth was a long spongy thing that he could somehow talk around while munching on.

"You… Wha…" Kagami blinked, even squinted to try and sort it all out in his head. It wasn't even that he was like a giant child with purple hair, just the fact that such a person was right at the door munching on junk food sent Kagami into a world of 'why is this a thing in front of me'. Eventually he just threw up his hands in defeat. "Just head inside tiger, don't question it."

Just like that he ignored the tall, _tall_ man and moved up the steps only to be stopped once again.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Kagami turned to the giant to see him frowning at him in the most patronizing way the guy's sleepy expression could muster.

"Uh, inside, duh." The red-head pointed his thumb to the room.

"Like that?"

"Yeah, got a problem?" Kagami was ready to punch him, but the giant seemed to find it amusing.

"You'll be kicked out before you even get to the food table."

"Then I'll sneak."

"Huuuuh? You stand out pretty hard to me."

"Then I'll punch the security."

"You'll end up in jail."

Kagami growled and turned to him with arms folded.

"Well, I'm getting in there. I don't care how I look but I aint got no fancy suit with me."

The giant let out a chuckle and dug through his small mountain of sweets.

"You're funny. Have a packet so you don't leave empty handed."

He reached down and pushed a packet of gummy sweets in Kagami's face, but in return he just batted it away. At least he would have if his hit had any effect on the long arm.

"I'm not here for the food dammit! I wanna see someone inside!"

"Oh yeah?" The giant hummed while moving the packet back to himself to eat. "You got a girl you like in here or something? Sounds like too much trouble to me."

"I'm not here to get with anyone; I wanna see the hosts' kid."

That seemed to catch some attention. The giant stared at him carefully for a moment before leaning over.

"You here to see Kuro-chin?"

"Kuro, what? Ugh yes whatever, I'm here to see Kuroko."

"What's your name?"

"Eh? Uh, Kagami. Kagami Taiga."

The giant stared and hummed once more, making the once confident Kagami feel just a little uncomfortable. He kind of expected an introduction in return but nope, the guy stood up straight and started walking in – signalling the red-head to follow.

"You won't get near him for long if you stay like that; I know where they keep spare clothes."

"R-Really?" Kagami didn't expect that but soon he found himself grinning as he ran to catch up. "Thanks!"

"Don't thank me, it's boring. Just tell Tatsuya that he owes me a favour."

"T-" Kagami's eyes widened. He was tempted to think more on it, but in the end this guy was going to help him get back to Kuroko again.

The red-head smiled and followed him past the crowd.

….

With the purple haired guy gone there wasn't anything distracting him but… this thing was tight.

Kagami once again grabbed the tie around his neck and this time just gave up and loosened it half way, also got rid of the first few buttons while he was at it. He'd already tamed his hair to fit in - he didn't have to blend with the crowd _that_ much more right? Besides he can probably pass off as drunk. The giant had told him it was normal for it to feel like you were slowly being choked to death by what you were wearing, but he never missed his baggy clothes more.

He stroked the ring necklace in his pocket for good luck and took a nervous breath.

Not that he was nervous.

All these people just looked like snobs, what did it matter if he screwed up massively? It's not like strangers thinking bad of him would affect him, and it definitely wouldn't effect how Kuroko would- oh wait.

Yeah, he was still hung up on all that stuff, but he hadn't done all this to give in to stupid nerves.

As he managed to calm himself down he noticed a little bit of chatter reaching his ear from close by. When he tried to find the source he saw a few girls staring at him who immediately giggled and looked away when he turned his head towards them.

 _Do I really still stand out that much?_ _I don't want to have to wear this damn choker just to look normal!_

"Umm, excuse me…"

He looked back and down to see a young lady with a layered pink and white dress walking close to him.

"Am I in the way?" Was the most polite thing he could think up.

"N-Not at all! In fact, my friends and I were just talking about you…"

All three of them giggled in unison despite being apart and Kagami returned to being confused as ever.

"Uh, right, I guess I stick out huh." He smiled roughly and rubbed the back of his head, only to then awkwardly try to fix his hair again - which was a trial in itself.

"Oh you do! Tell me, what do your parents work as?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, well they're both in America so…"

"A foreigner? Ohh-"

The girl turned back to her friends and somehow communicated with them with a weird form of body language. Whether they were overhearing or using telepathy Kagami could not decide.

"Well, uh, I guess so." He tried to continue while being slightly weirded out.

"I should have noticed from the skin tone really, you don't see a lot of variety in boys around here."

"Well I'm trying to fit in."

"And you do it splendidly! You're practically one of the crowd."

"You think?" Kagami's eyes widened with a slight grin.

"Yes! With just enough spice to be a breath of fresh air. Oh look at me rambling; perhaps it would be a good idea to dance?"

"Oh yeah, actually that is a good idea."

As the girl looked off to her friends to signal she was 'in', Kagami casually turned and walked off to find his dance partner.

….

"No, thank you."

"Don't be rude, Tetsuya."

Meanwhile, about half way across the hall from the over-excited red-head, Kuroko felt a shove on his arm and kept a stoic face as he stared at the girl in front of him. He could feel the gaze dig into his shoulder from behind; the cold of the unmoving pillar keeping him from walking away.

Eventually, he smiled.

"I couldn't possibly. To dance with such a beauty, I would be taking you away when the fun would only have started. Please do see me again once we can have time for just the two of us."

The girl giggled and blushed, and soon she was gone just like the rest of them.

Kuroko's false smile decayed faster than if it were a mask being torn off with desperation. He let out a nervous breath. If only he were by himself, he would be unnoticed by these girls looking for the attention that comes with being able to dance with the host's son.

He felt a large claw on his shoulder.

"How many times are you going to do this? You've gotten lucky so far but you cannot save all those girls for later. If you break your promises to these dignified people we will be very disappointed."

Kuroko kept looking forward, answering in monotone.

"I understand."

Once he felt the claw leave him he paused for a long while. Finally he silently gulped and calmly let out a shy breath.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the next victim being sought out and internally whined about how he didn't want to have to lie again. Instead took the chance to escape to another place that could hopefully give him a chance at invisibility, even out of sight of his parents.

Slipping through the crowd was his speciality, he had to practice it a lot in his life time. Eventually he reached a wall by the side lines and leaned against it, his hands gripping into fists.

He wanted to go outside. He wanted to be with his friends. He wanted to be telling these people about the last basketball match he had and sitting with them, getting to know them like he did on the bench with Seirin and maybe finding some mutual interests. He didn't want to pretend that this dance was partly his choice, or that there was even any choice of what the outcome of this event would be. He wanted…

"Kagami…"

Kuroko bit his lip and lowered his head, his hands reaching up to his upper arms as he clung to himself and suppressed a shiver.

After everything that had happened he had told himself that he was getting more independent, but still night after night he would stay awake thinking about ways he could escape to him. On that day he was dazed from getting no sleep at all he had even unconsciously gone to his house to rest with Nigou in hand. He was so embarrassed that he snuck out before Kagami could see him, but even after that he felt like he had missed his chance again by avoiding him.

He didn't know what to do, he felt like if he had to share a ring with Momoi tonight he would shatter.

It wasn't fair.

He didn't have a choice.

"May I have this dance?"

A shade of red invaded his vision. A hand was presented to him.

"Kaga…"

.

Chapter 12 End

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* * *

Hey guess what! I'm sick :3 Or at least I was, I got better yesterday! But I'm still using that as an excuse~ Anyways this is another chapter that was split into 2 which means the next one will slide right along after the end of this, of course after getting an idea at the last minute I couldn't resist being cruel :3

I had an idea of Murasakibara assuming Kagami was a new guard since I kinda like the idea that the giant goof would be the son of a mafia boss or something XD But alas Murabab is Murabab and Murabab he shall stay.

Looks like a dark force is pushing icy needles into Kuroko's shoulder~ With Kuroko's parents and the rough-tough-boyfriend in the same room, what tensions may arise? Find out next time, I cant wait *evil face*


	13. Mistake

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Chapter 13: The Last Honest Mistake

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The tip-toe of fingers on the piano keys filled the room with a sweet trickle of notes, but the talent was little noticed. Ladies and gentlemen wandered the room with little interest in anything except from themselves, and those who were actually here to have a good time stood gossiping or practiced their dignified dances by the small orchestra.

Of course there were a few people here and there that stood out in their own way.

By the stage stood a tall, slender blonde who was busy charming his way to two girls' hearts, while not too far away was his captain ready to kick some sense into him if he expected to be able to dance with two girls at once. By the entrance an extremely tall sweet-eater argued with a green-head with glasses and tapped up fingers about how sweet treats are to be eaten whether they are lucky items or not. Finally by the food table were a duo of childhood friends, although they didn't look like it with the pink haired girl trying to stop the tall dark-skinned male from napping in a row of chairs.

To anyone's eye they were all just some children with odd hair colours. Strange, in that way, that no-one noticed the boy with light blue hair and the boy with red hair dancing in the crowd.

The music came to a peaceful end, and the crowd applauded with no more than three fingers to their palm.

The two boys separated and gave each other a bow of gratitude.

"Thank you for leading me away. Now, I'm afraid I have to escape aga-"

"You still haven't answered, Tetsuya."

Before Kuroko could move away he felt the gaze intensify on him. His eyes widened just a tad, but soon he smile and looked away.

"Thank you, Akashi-kun." He said. "But, I'm not as strong as you. I cannot overpower my parents."

The red-haired boy, just slightly taller than him, changed his aura from interrogative to pitying.

"That's why you'll continue to suffer, Tetsuya. You say this stranger can save you but it sounds like you're ready to abandon him."

Kuroko's smile fled from his lips.

"I just… don't to hurt anyone again."

Beyond the two were dancing figures, the movement surrounding them as though they were in a space hidden from the careless world.

It was so quiet.

Akashi's stare was merciless, but eventually he sighed and turned to the side.

"I've given you my advice, and offered my assistance. My house is open to you as a long-term guest. If you want to stay and pretend everything's going to work out fine, suit yourself." His stare dug into Kuroko and wouldn't let go, the ghost could feel it. "But, while I admire your sense of self, you are weak. Neither your parents nor some lone boy should decide your future. You'll have to defy one of them soon enough." For a moment they stayed like this, until the red-haired emperor smirked. "I shall enjoy watching your illusion shatter."

Kuroko didn't answer. He didn't look up until he knew for sure that he was gone.

The world of sound and music flooded back into the space and Kuroko let out a sigh of relief.

"Akashi-kun, you're too protective…" He hummed to himself. "I wonder if you really can tell the future."

Akashi really did have the same intimidation as the ghost's own parents, but unlike them he knew that Akashi wanted to help him. Break away from his parents and defy them, or break away from Kagami and follow the path that's been chosen for him. Was it really that simple?

All of a sudden he felt a strong push on his back, and to avoid attention he moved through the crowd without touching anyone. Finally he managed to get out but as he looked round he could no longer see who pushed him. He shrugged it off and tried to find somewhere he could hide.

Ah, these feelings were back again. Maybe he should just escape, but then if his parents tried to make an announcement they would murder him for not being there.

Would that choose his path for him? Was that the right thing to do?

Maybe, he should just give up.

"Jeez, don't think I've seen you like this yet. I like the honest look."

A familiar voice broke through his thoughts.

"K-Kagami?!"

Kuroko looked genuinely shocked, staring wide-eyed as lo and behold the red-head stood before him in a suit and tie. Also much attention to his hair, it was slicked back which somehow made his sharp eyebrows show off more. The whole getup made him look like James Bond or something. It was almost charming. Realizing he broke his character, the smaller male quickly shook his head before he straightened himself up.

"K- W-Why? Tonight I, I didn't even tell you…" It was so hard to speak, so hard to look take his eyes off him, Kuroko felt breathless. He could barely believe it; it was like he was daydreaming. Just in case he wasn't he looked around for anyone finding him suspicious and then turned back and tried to keep his voice down. "What are you doing here?"

"Some tall guy let me in."

"Tall guy?" Kuroko blinked.

"Yeah, super tall with long purple hair. Tried to get me to leave by giving me gummy bears." Kagami rubbed the back of his neck with an awkward yet casual expression.

"Oh, Murusakibara-kun…"

"Another friend of yours? Or some random guy?"

"He was on the old team. But I'm impressed that you got him to give you one of his sweets, he must like you quite a bit."

"Your old friends are freaking weird."

"I take pride in my choices."

"I'm not that weird am I?"

"You're weird enough." Kuroko smiled as Kagami laughed.

Just like the red-head to immediately relax him with such a simple reaction, as though the tiger was used to his sarcastic bite. The way Kagami smiled so easily in this situation was a godsend; it filled him with a new confidence that added to the fact that he was actually present when the ghost needed him most. Unfortunately there was trouble on the other end as well, as Kagami's smile soon turned into an expression that Kuroko couldn't identify. What he couldn't know was that Kagami was remembering the 'enough' conversation he'd had with his pink haired crushee. He knew that if he would try to talk about it now this would probably turn into a misunderstanding.

Luckily, or unluckily, Kuroko just cleared his throat and looked away.

"A-Anyway I'm just, surprised you're here. But I cant really leave this time, sorry…"

"Nah it's cool. I thought I would switch it up! If I cant be your thug then maybe we could dance to some fancy music."

And make a good impression with the parents? Well Kagami hadn't really thought that far, but maybe his line of bad luck would pay off again.

"Oh…" Kuroko's eyes widened and he tried to hide his nervousness. "I, don't know about dancing, I'm already trying to attract as little attention as possible."

"Why not? It's not like we're the only guy dancers here. Look – that short guy and green head are dancing together."

Kuroko looked up to see where Kagami was looking and physically deflated a bit.

"That's because the 'short guy' is Akashi-kun, and Midorima values his mental health enough to abide by Akashi-kun's eccentric wishes."

Poor Midorima, it seemed Akashi was bored today.

"Uhh, right…" Just take it in your stride Kagami, take it in your stride. "Still, taking no for an answer isn't my style. So…" Kagami tried again as he held his hand out with a surprisingly charming smile.

Kuroko still felt uneasy but he couldn't deny the way Kagami looked at him like that made the blood rush to his cheeks. It was like fancy dress, or their second date. It wasn't unusual to dance on a date right? So… this was fine.

With a silent hesitance he gathered his courage and slowly reached out for the hand. He didn't dare look as their fingers touched and only managed to make his eyes move to the red-head as their fingers warmly inter-twined until finally they held each other's hand in a confident grasp.

"I should warn you I have two left feet." Kagami laughed. "Never been to a fancy dance before but I'll try and pull a blondie and copy everyone else's style."

"If you act like you know what you are doing you should not stand out so much. Besides, I wouldn't mind giving you a lesson as long as you don't step on me."

Kuroko found himself smiling as Kagami laughed once more, leading out into the part of the room where guests were dancing in a swirl of elegant movements. The ghost could feel his heartbeat in his ears. His head told him this was a bad idea but the hand that captured his own persuaded the rest of his body to move.

All around them people stepped in time and out of time with the classical music, those too young or too old – or too single – to do so chatted among themselves with various drinks and tiny foods on little plates that all looked too refined to be enjoyed. It really was a party for the 'finer tastes', a ball from a fairy tale without the magic. Or so it seemed at first.

As Kuroko took Kagami's hands and showed him where to put them for this kind of dance he couldn't help but notice people around them slowly beginning to notice them. Kagami managed to catch a glance at just who Kuroko was worried about and quickly yet smoothly dragged him more into the crowd. As if he would let anyone judge Kuroko like this, no-one was going to ruin this for either of them if he had any say about it. The look in the red-head's eyes managed to sooth Kuroko's nerves enough to actually make him feel happy about being able to dance with his 'date'.

Soon Kuroko took the first step and helped Kagami with the next, getting into a stable enough rhythm until they managed to sway along with the crowd. While Kuroko tried to keep his mind calm Kagami quickly started to find the whole thing troublesome.

"Ugh this is so freaking slow, cant we just freestyle it?"

"No, Kagami. I told you I'm already trying to lay low as it is."

"It's just a dance. It's not like there's anyone that would catch you cheating on them with me…" Kagami looked down at him with a look of suspicion he had been saving for this moment. "Is there?"

Kuroko was caught just a little off guard by the question, and by Kagami's sudden change of attitude. He looked away, unsure.

"Not exactly…"

Surely Kagami didn't know. And he didn't need to know.

The sudden tense atmosphere made his movements sloppy and Kuroko accidentally nudged another dancer behind him. As the couple turned to see him he felt a shiver down his spine and tried to get away quickly by letting Kagami go.

It didn't go as planned.

"Oi oi, where're you running to?" Kagami quickly pulled Kuroko closer and felt the ghost flinch as he wrapped an arm around his back.

"K-Kagami don't-"

"I don't know anyone at this party and my lesson is far from over."

Kagami continued to dance with the motions but Kuroko was more than uneasy now. His cheeks felt hot and his heart raced, but mixed in with the knowledge that people may now be staring at them made it worse by the second.

"I want to stop dancing now."

"Well I don't."

"Please stop being selfish Kagami-kun."

"I'm the one who should be saying that to you!" Kuroko looked up as he felt a tight grip around his wrist and was shocked to see Kagami glaring at him. His voice turned low. "Aren't I the only one you need to keep your eyes on?"

Kuroko gulped. Somewhere in his mind that line triggered something that should have made him swoon, but instead it struck fear into his heart like the red-head was some kind of beast.

"…Of course you are."

His voice grew a pathetic tone and he lowered his head, pretending to be willing to dance. He didn't have to put it up for long.

Kagami's gaze on him dulled as his grip on him loosened almost entirely.

"I would have thought being a bit more shameful would make you kind of cute, but really you just want to avoid me that badly. That's all there is to it isn't it?"

Kuroko stared at Kagami's chest with a troubled glare. Around them people continued to dance and smile and sing along to the charming piano tune, but in their bubble a silent atmosphere was ready to cut off the air.

"No, that, that isn't it at all…" He began to grit his teeth, a burning feeling reaching through his chest and towards his eyes.

Kagami's glare returned as he watched the ghost's expression turn to a pathetic look. He moved his arms back to the original position and gave the other a more honestly serious look than before. "Then hurry up and show it already…"

Nothing could be done about it; they would try and get back into the swing of things like this. Kuroko didn't say a word on it; Kagami told himself he was fine with that for now. But as the red-head took a turn he put a little of his impatience into his step and stomped backwards, his heel roughly catching hold of a red dress. Without them even seeing it the two of them could predict that the sudden yelp, rip, thud and bombardment of piano notes was definitely their fault. As everyone took a step back, they slowly turned to see a woman and the pianist on the floor.

"Crap-" Kagami blinked, letting go of Kuroko and turning to help the woman up. "Sorry about that. You alright man? Err, mam?"

Kagami carefully and shamelessly helped the woman he tripped and embarrassed, but that deed wasn't enough to redeem what had just happened. No, this was the last turning point.

Kuroko could hear nothing but his heartbeat in his ears. His eyes were as wide as plates and his vision darted from the scene before him to the rest of the crowd.

They were all staring at them.

Kuroko flinched back in fear and felt his breath hitch in his throat as he thought quickly, beginning to panic. He reached for the red-head while moving fast on pure instinct. Without saying a word he grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the woman in the red dress that was shying away from him in shame.

"Wai- what's with you Kuroko?!" Kagami growled, not even able to shove himself away with the amount of force the ghost was clinging to him with.

He didn't understand what was going on or why they were running, but as he just about caught a glimpse of Kuroko's face he realized he had really messed up this time.

He'd never seen him so scared before.

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Chapter 13 End

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* * *

I couldn't wait to upload this chapter all weekend! I almost regret splitting it up into 2, but when I found a way to slip Midorima into this story I knew for sure I couldn't leave Akashi out, and then the perfect opportunity came along~

Arrgh I'm so proud of the last bit but the fact that this isn't even the end of the trouble makes it that much harder for me to keep it up! *flips table because needs more drama!* But I am proud of it~ After all, Kuroko can't afford to make mistakes ¬u¬

Speaking of drama, just what's going on with Kuroko? Why is he so desperate to get away? And what will this mistake cost the tiger who came to tea? The next chapter will be just as dramatic, if not more! Even I cant wait~


	14. Sorry

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Chapter 14: I'm Sorry for Being Serious

.

 _When I first saw you, I made a quick assumption._

 _I thought, "As long as he's alone he wont hurt me", and "I'm sure I can just sneak away."_

 _And I was sure of those thoughts._

 _But it was dark, and you were beat up, talking rough to me like you were going to be another thug. From the place I grew up, I was taught to not be around your type. I was taught you would use me and hurt me just because I talk with proper pronunciation._

 _Then you agreed to play with me, and I wanted to grin. Even though you tried to act tough I was able to see your honest side. The more I saw, the more honest you were. Finally I was able to see only you._

 _Before I knew it I thought about you always._

 _My heart beat louder when I knew I was going to see you. I wanted to escape with you somewhere that I could show you my true self._

 _No matter where I am, nobody is honest. Nobody is like you._

 _Nobody but you._

 _Kagami Taiga._

He slammed the door shut behind him, never letting go of the red-head's wrist as he continued to run without more than a panting sound.

For someone as weak as Kuroko this was absurd, the shear force he used out of frustration was something neither of them thought was possible out of him. But here he was, breathing ragged, heart banging against his chest, afraid of what he had to lose. It was a nightmare, the feeling of no-one being able to experience it but you. How could he possibly explain what had happened?

Kagami could only watch, feeling helpless – a feeling he had no idea how to deal with. Helplessness and shame, he didn't know what he had done, but seeing Kuroko like this now he had never wished he could turn back time more.

As they burst into the room at the final dead-end, Kuroko finally let go of the larger male and stumbled a few steps away from him into the darkness. He was breathless from the whole ordeal to the point where he doubled over and gripped his knees. Kagami too took a moment to catch his breath and stared at the silhouetted shadow. Just watching him made him feel like there was a white-hot burning in the back of his mind, so he moved his eyes away and reluctantly switched on the light.

The room had an old feeling to it; it was the kind of room you would discover as part of the forgotten attic in a large house. A dusty mirror, cabinets with spider webs connecting the draws, randomly placed mahogany furniture, there wasn't much to be noticed here that wouldn't be found in any abandoned furniture shop.

Kuroko stayed facing away from Kagami, not even a flinch as the light turned on. The red-head balled his hands into fists and tried to show his regret.

"Kuroko… I-"

"I'm sorry Kagami." Kuroko interrupted him. He paused as he straightened himself up and took a few deep breaths. "I didn't realize that the way I danced was so distant. I'm not used to it either, really." Although he wouldn't face him, his head was turned to the side just enough for Kagami to see a strained smile on his lips.

"Kuro…" Kagami stared at him for a moment of silence before a frown covered his expression once more. "Wouldn't it just be so much easier to talk about this? Things back in Japan always have to be so complicated."

The smile on Kuroko's lips quickly faded at that. But still he didn't respond, just moved over to the furniture like he was looking for something - looking for a distraction most likely.

"It's not a good time."

"Well when will be a good time!?"

"Kagami please!" Kuroko turned to him with rage in his eyes, sending Kagami back to silence again. He leaned on the desk behind him and gripped it with his hands, looking down towards the floor. "I want to tell you that it gets easier to deal with me, but… it's your fault for choosing me in the first place!" His voice was loud, but it wasn't strained. Even with the hot sting in his eyes he refused to show his weakness.

"Why." Kagami clenched his fist. "Why did you have to act like you just didn't have feelings for me? Why didn't you just tell me you were supposed to be with someone else?!"

Kuroko flinched.

"I…"

So he did know about that. Of course he knew about that.

Kuroko felt the burning in his eyes return worse than ever so he hid them before Kagami could see the burn turn into tears. "I didn't want you to… to see me like that…"

"Tetsuya!"

A voice screeched from somewhere far from outside the door and Kuroko froze up. In an instant he closed the gap between them, pulled Kagami closer and slammed the door to the room shut behind him. He gripped his arm and looked up at the red-head with a desperate expression.

"Kagami-kun, I'm sorry, but please do not make a sound for a while."

"Wha- Wait what are you-"

Without being able to do anything about it, Kagami was shoved towards a wardrobe and pushed inside before he could even figure out if it was big enough for him to fit in. He turned and tried to grab Kuroko but the doors were quickly shut on him and the ghost refused to let him open it.

Just as he opened his mouth to shout some profanities there was the sound of another door opening followed by a furious sound of intimidating stomping.

"Tetsuya!" The voice – much clearer now – rang out again and Kuroko was pulled from the door of the closet. "Where is that horrid stranger?!"

Without having the weight on it the door opened just enough for Kagami to silently spy through. There were two blue haired people standing in the middle of the room, one of which was the ghost he knew well.

Kuroko looked calm. Eerily so, like it was unnatural.

"I don't know. He ran away after knocking someone over."

"Really?" The other voice was calm too, sometimes, slow as well. It still held a fierce grip to the ears. "I was told that you were _dancing_ with him."

"I was. I took your advice not to be rude to the guests."

"Pah!" The smug taller person waved their hand in disgust. "I can barely understand it when you refuse to dance with sophisticated guests but I surely raised you to be able to notice the diseased cattle among pedigree primes."

"Well maybe he didn't seem that different from the rest." Kuroko half muttered.

The taller glared down at him with an deadly stare. "What was that?"

"I said he acted like the rest."

There was a cold silence, but soon the taller stepped away.

"It has been a long, long time since we last talked properly Tetsuya." They stood expectantly, with the patience of a vulture peering on a rat. "Tell me, have you been busy?"

"No."

"Nothing to tell us?"

"Nothing." Kuroko answered, almost a little too quickly. He tried to recover it. "I've been fine at school as usual, nothing interesting has happened."

Another long moment of silence. There were loud footsteps as the taller person towered over the ghost.

"And you haven't been overstepping your boundaries have you?"

"I don't understand what you mea-."

"You know very well what I mean."

Kuroko stood silently. If he were any weaker he would be shaking. He swallowed before answering in a strained tone.

"No."

"Good. It's bad enough you think you can just pass by life 'good enough' as you are, it's as though you want to become like the scum of the street."

"They aren't-" Again Kuroko had opened his mouth too quickly, but after stopping himself he knew he had to continue. He took a breath. "Not everyone is like that, I've seen some. Some people are better off, without being smart or wealthy or polite. Maybe it's a better way for them." There was a hint of something Kuroko's voice, the way he said his words slowly, deliberately. "Maybe something even more genuine."

Kagami's eyes widened. As far as he could tell Kuroko was frowning in defence, leaving the taller person utterly repulsed.

"Tetsuya, don't tell me this _buffoon_ was invited by you? Is that the straggler you have been socializing with outside of our care? Unbelievable!" Kuroko opened his mouth to speak but was quickly interrupted as the taller grabbed him by his chin. "What a disappointment Tetsuya. This recent behaviour of yours is simply savage! Once I am sure we have got this _unwelcome guest_ out of here your isolation will reach beyond the boundaries of discipline! Do you understand just what you have done Tetsuya?"

"I do! But-"

"There will be no argument, _Tetsuya_. You still haven't learned, after all of these years, if you think it's okay to be seen with-"

"I don't care who I'm seen with!" With a thrust the ghost broke free and gained some distance between them. For the first time, Kuroko raised his voice in complete defence. He was shaking already. "There's nothing wrong with K-him! He was a true person who was honest! What's so wrong about wanting him instead of the rest!?"

The sound of a loud strike stopped his plea.

Only in the quiet did Kagami realize how hard his heart was beating, how dry his eyes were, how he was ready to launch himself out when he heard that sound. But as soon as he caught himself it ended up just a flinch, he didn't try to help Kuroko, who had just gotten hit.

Hit.

Their fist was closed.

They had just punched Kuroko.

Kagami's breath hitched in his throat and he had to hold himself back with all his might, his efforts turning into choking as his entire mind told him to run to Kuroko.

But outside that wardrobe it was silent, Kuroko stayed with his argument struck down like he was a lunatic brought to logic. He stared at the spot his eyes had landed, the taste of blood in his mouth. The taller person turned away.

"You're not to leave this house without our permission. You are to leave to school and return from school at an allotted time. This will not happen again. Understand, Tetsuya?"

"I do." Kuroko's voice had turned quiet.

"Do you?"

"I do understand."

The taller person sneered at him but neither of them had anything more to say. Finally they moved away from Kuroko, still with that disgusted look on their face, and acted as though nothing had happened.

"Honestly, what an embarrassment. I should take that impudent scoundrel to court for kidnapping just to explain this to the guests."

Kuroko's head twitched at that.

"I was the one who spoke to him first outside of this house. Other than that he has had no business with me. I do not even know his name."

"Then you will _find_ his name." Kuroko was confronted once again with that intimidating sneer. "If you ever so much as glimpse him outside of this house again you will find out everything you can so that I can possibly pick up some of the pieces of your reputation, do you understand?"

"I do."

"Do you?!"

Kuroko paused.

"I understand."

Forcing the son to find blackmail on him just for one little mistake, Kagami was shaking with rage. Fists clenched, brows furrowed, having to bite his lip just to stop himself from shouting that they'll 'see each other again after he runs away from your crappy parenting'. At least he assumed that was his parent, not many people with that colour hair around here…

Again Kuroko stood stoic. There were a million minuscule things that showed how he really felt, but to the untrained eye he was unyielding and unmoving.

"Tch." It annoyed the the taller person who couldn't see their own son's true intentions. They walked with loud steps towards the door. "Come with me, someone will bring you to your room and you will _not_ return to the guests. I will have to tell them that you were attacked by that mad man and so will be resting."

Without a word Kuroko followed.

Just as he got to the door he turned back to the closet and put a single finger up, telling Kagami to wait. Then he closed the door behind him, leaving the room seemingly empty.

Even now Kuroko kept his cool to make sure Kagami wouldn't get in the same trouble. It was insane, the way that person had said it made it seem like they were really going to take him to court. No wonder Kuroko was acting like that. All this time it was both of them who were going to get it if one of them messed up.

A moment passed before the wardrobe door opened quick enough to slam, though the one standing at the door had enough control to silence it. Hiding his eyes, Kagami stepped out. He gripped the door so tightly that the wood almost bent under his fingertips.

Fuck waiting. Fuck all of this.

Kagami left without hesitation.

….

It was a strange feeling when you couldn't get comfortable in your own clothes.

Now that the suffocating suit was tossed in a crumple back where he found it, Kagami had immediately put on his old clothes before heading back to the room from before. He didn't care if he got caught, he would just ignore anyone who tried to stop him at this point. Everything felt so irritating, he told himself not to think about everything but that wasn't the way things were now.

 _I understand._

Kagami's expression flinched.

How many times had Kuroko said that useless line.

How many times did he have to pretend to care.

How many times did Kuroko look at someone without being able to see them as family or friend.

How could he possibly be the one to help him.

Kagami didn't give a damn about subtlety anymore, he kicked open the door to the furnished room and stepped in.

Kuroko shuddered with a gasp, surprised by the sudden burst after the depressing silence. He closed the wardrobe and turned to the man standing at the door, obviously trying to think of what to say. But after a moment of seeing him in his old clothes he just let out a smile. It was crooked because of the bruise on his right cheek.

"I'm glad you're back, Kagami-kun."

The red-head clenched his fist.

….

"I managed to get away from the butler but I cant stay out for long in case they actually check for me this time, sorry."

Kuroko stared up at Kagami but only got a grunt in response.

They walked down the street in silence. Kagami looked forward with a dull expression, hands once again nonchalantly stuffed in his pockets and his hair no longer tamed. Kuroko had managed to lose the jacket and tie but the way he looked at Kagami was almost hopeful in the saddest way. Another expression he had never shown anyone before, it was almost his way of trying to compromise.

It was obvious: this situation was just as tense as before.

Neither of them said a word as Kuroko directed them down the streets to where he first met Kagami. They never locked eyes. Kuroko tried to think what he could possibly say to diffuse what the other had seen. In his mind they could just ignore this whole thing and continue on their way, but the way Kagami was acting made him fear that maybe there was something that would stay on his mind. He always knew his parents would make a bad impression.

"I hope you aren't angry about what happened." Kuroko glanced at Kagami, who didn't glance back. "I was not ashamed about dancing with you, I promise. In fact it was fun. While it lasted..."

"I'm not angry about that."

Kuroko deflated, and then tried a smile instead.

"Are you angry about something else?"

"No."

"…Oh."

This was weird. Usually he was the one causing the awkward situations, not getting stuck in the middle of them.

For once he couldn't begin to imagine what Kagami was thinking and when he tried to read his eyes the only thing he could think was that this day wasn't going to end well.

By the time they got half way to Kagami's house the only light filling the streets were the dim areas under the street lamps, the only sound was the rustling of squirrels and pigeons fighting over food in the bushes.

As they came to a street they both knew well Kagami stopped all of a sudden.

In turn Kuroko almost stumbled but instead walked on just a little and stopped in front of him. Their eyes met.

"Is there something wrong? I should have enough time to walk you to your house."

This time Kagami stared back at him with full attention. What he said made all warmth leave Kuroko's body.

"Go home Kuroko."

He had said it in such a straightforward way; it was like the Kagami talking now was some kind of recording.

"What do you…" That's right, there must be more, maybe Kagami mis-said it.

"Go home, Kuroko." He repeated, without hesitation.

Kuroko gulped and looked down.

"I… I don't want to go home yet."

"Then go bug somebody else." Kuroko's heart stopped, but still Kagami moved with such calm that it felt like he was moving straight through him. The red-head walked past him, only stopping when he didn't have to look at him anymore. "We're not that serious that you have to walk with me, and you're not old enough to keep staying out without your parents' permission. Also, stealing my key too? That's just weird. Stalk me again and I'll just take it back from you. Don't bug me anymore."

Kuroko's head lifted itself as he tried to turn to him, eyes wide. No words dared surface no matter how much he wanted to speak. For a moment longer they stood together like that, but it didn't last.

Kagami took the first step forwards.

For all the times he acted stubbornly without regret, now was the first that Kuroko's feet would not move. He leaned himself forward, weakly reached out his arm, but his legs didn't give him anything.

"K…Ka…"

Further, further, Kagami was walking too fast ahead of him.

The red-head didn't stop, didn't even look back. Kuroko couldn't understand what this feeling was that was clawing at his heart and grasping around his lungs.

No, he could understand.

It was worse than the feeling of losing his old friends, different to the feeling of betraying his best friend and hating the one thing in life he most loved, harder to control than the feeling of his parent's disappointment. Even so, they all reminded him of this moment.

The feeling of losing. Losing because he is weak.

A strangled noise hitched in Kuroko's throat and he suddenly realized his knees were shaking. He took in a cold breath and tried to move, but as soon as he shuffled his footing his knees buckled and he collapsed on all fours. He was shaking, completely shaking to his very core. One hand was palm on the ground as he tried desperately to push himself up, to get off the cold, cold stone, but his other arm was being crushed down by his forehead as he tried desperately to hold in the tears.

"Tai…ga…"

 _Between my parents and my friends, I was sure I wasn't meant for happiness._

 _The first time I met you, I didn't realize how much I'd already wanted to fall in love with you._

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Chapter 14 End

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Even editing this chapter made me emotional ;n; I do not regret a thing, I think this is my favourite chapter of the story~

To Loryko, the best reviewer ever (who doesn't have an account so I cant fangirl over you properly!), and all other reviewers, you seriously make my day, I seriously look at your reviews and grin to myself for ages XD

I'm actually still kinda unsure about this story tbh, as you all might be able to tell by my rambling at the end sometimes, since this is actually my first serious project, let alone fanfiction I aim to finish!

Not just for my reviewers and such but to everyone, I hope you enjoy this reveal chapter of the tension that seems to have haunted Kuroko from the start, and I hope you can till wait next friday for what might just be the final chapter in Great Expectations.


	15. Feel

A quick thank you to everyone who's supported the fic so far, I hope that this final chapter could possibly live up to your great expectations~

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Chapter 15: How I Feel About You

.

 ** _"It's a phase; he'll grow to be someone respectable yet."_**

 ** _"It's those basketball playing children – especially that suspicious blond one."_**

 ** _"We simply can't allow him to take care of himself; it's obvious he'll never be normal."_**

 ** _"We will have to watch over him."_**

 ** _"Change him."_**

 ** _"_** **Try** ** _to change him."_**

 ** _"At least make him pretend he is normal."_**

 ** _"We can't be having anyone see him acting out."_**

 ** _"It's embarrassing after all."_**

Kuroko gripped the sheets tighter, closer to his chest. His dead-fish eyes stared at the bed post they had been fixed on for however long it had been now. He tangled himself up more, as though choking his limbs of blood flow would take the focus off just a little.

The tick of the clock was loud enough to fill the whole room like it was empty. Unfortunately there were reminders of his status everywhere to block his view. There were little trinkets, random large toys he had kept from his innocent times, furniture that would never be needed, and at the centre of it all was the large king-sized bed with silky drapes hanging down from the four posts at its corners. In the middle of said bed lay the ghost, wrapped in all manner of soft bed sheets with pillows splayed as messily as his bed head. At the walls of the room were large windows with curtains neatly pulled aside to let in the sun's rays. The way it reflected off the balcony outside into his eyes should have bothered him more, but it was another distraction he was thankful for.

The first thing that had changed all morning was when the knob on the door turned. Kuroko closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.

As he heard the slow steps, he waited. They stopped and once again all was quiet. Finally there was some murmuring and the door begin to close without the sleeping boy being disturbed.

Just before it closed Kuroko peeked through to see uniforms of cleaners. Not even his parents, he shouldn't have expected it.

The space inside himself he used to hold for hopes like that was, once again, broken. He was worn out from broken trust and empty promises. For once he didn't know how to bounce back. He didn't know what might be needed to make things better, and he certainly didn't know what was going to happen in the future.

All he knew was that he wanted to get away from them.

They didn't understand why he really thought about escaping everyday. They didn't understand why he never looked them in the eye. They didn't understand the Kagami that he knew.

Maybe he didn't really understand any of that either.

Kuroko's grip finally loosened and he let out a harboured breath as he opened his eyes.

"Kagami…"

In the end he didn't know what Kagami he knew anymore.

Staying here, thinking these things, giving up, what was he going to accomplish? He just wanted to know what it was that made the Kagami that hated him come back. No, that wasn't right either, he wasn't one thing or the other, he was just him! The awkward, confident tiger that accepted him even though he knew nothing about him! Even if he couldn't change it Kuroko just knew that he wanted…

Suddenly his eyes widened and he sat up. Tears flowed freely from the corner of his eyes and he stared into space for a long moment.

"What… am I doing here?" He murmured to himself, slowly bringing up one hand to wipe away the tears but fresh ones ran down his cheeks faster than he could get rid of them. "Kagami-kun, I, I want you, please I…" He gulped as he tried to resist the choking feeling wrapping itself around his throat. "Please understand. I have to put an end to this."

Without another thought Kuroko threw the sheets away and leapt out of bed, more energetic than he had ever remembered himself feeling. He grabbed a white shirt and random other articles of clothing, now filled with a confidence of accomplishing a single goal as he threw them on. His blue hair whipped behind his ears with his movements, and with one final flourish of both his hands Kuroko discarded the tears that were blurring his sight.

The balcony past his curtains opened up, and light filled the house.

This version of himself was one Kuroko liked much better, he only hoped he would not fall back once he reached the end of this part.

….

 ** _Thunk._**

Another easy dunk.

So it looked, but Kagami felt the weight of the world pressing down on him right now. It couldn't be helped, after a little while he would get out of this and everything would be back to normal.

The red-head sighed as he picked up the ball and spun it lazily on his finger.

He had been doing this a lot lately, letting his mind wander to other things, so much so that he had pretty much mastered the art of spinning the ball anywhere on his hand.

"That's one good thing that's come out of all of this…" He muttered to himself sarcastically and started bouncing the ball again.

He got it into both hands to try a shoot but paused. What was the point? He didn't have the energy. Once again he just sighed, feeling too down to even play anymore, and just let the ball drop.

It rolled a good few meters away.

A warm breeze blew through as Kagami stared at nothing in particular.

What should he do? He just wanted to make this feeling go away already. At this rate he wouldn't be able to live on his own for much longer.

 _"Then go bug somebody else."_

Suddenly he flinched, a shiver running violently through him in a split second. He let out a noise of annoyance and rubbed the back of his neck.

That wasn't the right thing to say, for sure, not after the lashing he had just gotten after he hid him in the closet. But what was he supposed to say? Kagami knew he was no good with words anyway, so it was just better to cut all loose ends.

Things were better this way, so he should just stop thinking about it already.

"Wow, here I was hoping I wouldn't run into something as pathetic as I thought I would."

Kagami's attention was caught as he heard a voice behind him.

He looked up and slowly turned to see a guy around his height and build with the previously dropped ball in his hands. He was much more tanned than him and had a smirk on that made Kagami want to punch him immediately. And he didn't even know his name yet. Other than that his clothes were unremarkable and his hair was… blue.

Kagami already felt exhaustion from whatever adventure of a conversation he would have with this guy.

"Don't tell me, you're another one of Kuroko's 'evil ex-boyfriends'?"

"You're so funny, I can see why he came home looking so happy last night."

"Why he…"

Kagami straightened up and frowned. The blue haired guy's smirk widened as he knew he had gotten his attention. Though he wasn't sure if Kagami was playing dumb or really didn't get it when he next spoke.

"Who are you talking about?"

"Tetsu you idiot! Who else? I saw you at the party ya know, had to stop myself from coming over there and punching you myself when you made a stupid scene like that."

Kagami's calm demeanour turned into something more rough. Slowly he began to realize that whoever this blue-haired bastard was, he was the last guy he should be talking to about this last night. Or, maybe he was the the one that would stop him being such an idiot. Not that he would give up that easily.

"Not me."

"Hah?"

"Do I look like a guy in a suit with gelled-up hair?"

The blue-head before him stared at him with a sarcastic look.

"No, you look like an idiot describing a guy he says he doesn't know."

"Shut up you're the idiot!"

"What did you just call me?!"

The two growled at each other, looking pissed enough to start a fight, until suddenly the blue haired guy caught himself.

"Wait a sec, I was supposed to say something."

Kagami blinked and stared back at the guy who looked spaced out tipping the ball from hand to hand.

"Uh…"

"What was it… Oh yeah-" Suddenly the guy pointed at him looking pissed off again. "What the hell did you do to him man?! I saw Kuroko coming home like he seriously _was_ a ghost this time!"

Kagami jolted back but tried to remain in control.

"T-That's none of your business!"

"It's my damn business when comes home crying!"

"It was dark out you have no proof that he was crying unless you were stalking him, creepo!"

"Oi oi, it's obvious you're not just 'some idiot'! I aint never seen Kuroko actually dance with anyone except 'Moi, and even then the pressure was on both of 'em like nothin' else."

"So what? It's not my fault that Kuroko happened to leave the party and came back looking sad."

"Yeah, sure." The guy rolled his eyes and started to bounce the ball, heading closer to him. His pissed-off frown turned into a slightly less pissed off smirk. "Now, I'm a reasonable guy alright? I aint his guardian angel, but I _can_ tell you that if you hurt Tetsu..." Aomine stopped with a dark look, "then you're not gonna be safe from us for long."

"Us?" Kagami exclaimed with a raised brow. "Seriously all of you really are just like Kuroko's evil ex's or something!"

"If you're just gonna stand there sass like that without admitting anythin', then you'll be having a taste of me first!"

The blue head switched switched his dribbling hand and, despite Kagami reacting to the immediate non-verbal challenge to basketball, the blue-head ran past his block with ease. The stranger flew passed him, outrunning him easily and jumped, dunking the ball with enough force to shake the whole hoop stand.

He grunted as he landed back on the ground.

"Typical." The blue head spat and turned to him. "A half-assed block aint gonna stop me, not that you could ever beat me anyway."

"Is that a challenge you piece of crap?"

"It's not, cause I'm not gonna waste my time with someone without the drive to keep up. And neither should Kuroko."

Kagami's eyes widened at that. His fists tensed and he quickly turned into a glare.

"What did you just-"

"I said you don't deserve Kuroko you dumbass. What else?" He interrupted him and threw the ball into Kagami's chest, easily caught but with the irritation put into the throw Kagami almost got winded. "You could have had happiness but you screwed it up with one mistake…" He muttered under his breath.

The look on the stranger's face confused Kagami, but he still couldn't ignore what he said. Still he grit his teeth and gave him a dark glare.

"What's with you? This has nothing to do with you."

"Idiot, being a light means more than just pissing about with a ball. If you're gonna be there for him you're gonna have to compete with everything that's cut him down, so don't go screwing around!"

They fell silent at that, the blue head sneering at him and Kagami just shocked enough to realize what it meant.

Who did this guy think he was? No, who was Kuroko to this guy?

The very fact that those questions made Kagami so angry proved that this guy was right. He didn't know why he was here, but whatever he was saying was getting to him, he couldn't keep ignoring this feeling forever.

"Look at that, he's still crying over you. You're as pathetic as each other."

The red-head blinked, confused by the sudden switch. But then he looked up to see the guy smirking as he stared at the open gate.

Kuroko panted, hands on his knees as he stared at the two of them, just as confused if - not more so - than the red-head. His eyes were red and cheeks tinted as well but he played it off smooth enough.

"Ao…mine…?" He gasped, taking a second more to catch his breath. "What are you, doing here…?"

"Not much. What are _you_ doing here?" Aomine replied with a mixture of sarcasm and boredom.

"Not much…" Kuroko replied, such a blatant lie that Aomine rolled his eyes again.

The ghost looked away, his breathlessness only shown in sips now, but glanced up shyly every so often to see that Kagami was staring at him. The red-head flinched as his gaze was caught and awkwardly pretended he didn't feel the blush on his cheeks. Getting bored of it quickly, Aomine moved over to the staring red-head to break the two out of their awkward trance. He sighed and punched the top of his head to break Kagami out of his state.

"Hurry up and make him happy, idiot." He grunted. "If you don't I'm gonna kick your ass."

Kagami growled and rubbed the top of the head, then just watched as the 'stranger' moved over to Kuroko, who had finally recovered from running all the way here.

"Aomine-kun…" Kuroko began, but before he could say anything else he felt a hand clamp over his head and ruffle his hair.

"Party was boring as hell last night; get your folks to invite some more hot chicks next time."

"I think the most they would allow of that would be Momoi-san."

"Bo~ri~ng, she doesn't count. It's against the rules to pretend to you're not a slob to a someone you've known for that long unless it's funny. Anyway, seeya around short-stuff."

With one last firm pat on the back Aomine stuffed his hands in his pockets and left the two alone together. He didn't look back, but he held a scowl on his face all the way until he was out of earshot. You can bet he would be checking in with the shadow pretty soon after all this was over.

After seeing his old closest friend and his new closest friend together in this situation Kuroko wasn't quite sure how to feel, and as a result he couldn't really keep his gaze on Kagami who was staring at him, unsure. The red-head looked at him for a long moment before his gaze fell to the ball.

He bounced it once, twice, then forwards for Kuroko to catch.

"One of your old friends?"

The ghost caught it with ease and passed it back immediately out of habit.

"Yeah…"

Kagami caught the ball again and tossed it between them a few more times. When he couldn't be any more impatient he tossed it to the side. His eyes trailed back to the ghost before him who still refused to look at him. He looked weak as ever, though this time he finally had the expression to match it.

"…Why are you here?"

Kuroko bit his lip and paused.

"Kagami… I…"

His hands clutched into fists and he seemed to be trembling, with his voice too soft for anyone to hear clearly. He felt embarrassed to act like this in front of Kagami but for once it was so hard to be straightforward. As he pushed himself to hurry up, he took a slow breath and then bowed his head with a much more booming voice than ever before.

"Please take me back."

There was a long silence.

Kuroko's eyes stayed plastered shut, he didn't dare look up while his heart continued to thump in his ears. There was only so long he could take it until he thought that Kagami actually did hate him, at which point he began to panic.

"I, I know I did something awful. I lied to you, and made you look like a bad person in front of all those people. I didn't take your side and I basically acted like you didn't exist in front of my parents. And, I let you see me like that as well. It's not fair to ask you to keep feeling the same towards me. I wouldn't blame you for-" Suddenly he was interrupted by the sharp feeling of fingers digging into his jaw.

He hadn't even noticed Kagami come closer, but with his usual pissed-off look Kagami forced his head up, not a single flinch at their faces being so close. With his hand on Kuroko's chin he stared into the ghost's eyes, then slowly looked to his cheek. It was where the red-head's grip hurt on him, Kuroko still had the bruise.

"Ah-" Suddenly he realized what Kagami was doing and stumbled back in fluster. "S-Seriously it's not, it's not like I blame anyone and it doesn't really-"

Kagami stepped forward to instantly close the space he'd made by going back, and Kuroko looked away in fear that Kagami would do something to cause more drama. But rather than talking, or apologizing, or shouting, Kagami raised his hand and cupped his non-bruised cheek. And as Kuroko felt his heartbeat slow and his attention stick to the other, time seemed to slow to a dream as Kagami leaned in and kissed him.

Soft lips.

Warmth between them.

The honest intimacy.

He had forgotten already what it felt like. It was like the first time, when he didn't have to worry about what anyone else wanted of him. This was Kagami's kiss to him, and all he had to do was except it.

A truly beautiful peace filled the both of them, and just like that they were purged of the pain that came from their separation. Time only began to move forwards when their lips slowly parted, and for a brief moment Kagami and Kuroko looked to each other with eyes that told their true feelings. Kuroko didn't need to say more, but still he reached one hand to grab onto Kagami's shirt he stepped away.

"Idiot. You really think I care about any of that?" Kagami frowned. Kuroko stared up at him, barely having time to acknowledge the sting on his other cheek as Kagami rested his other hand close to the ear on his bruised side. "Listen to me. I'm just _some guy_ , and the ones you are running away from are your _parents_. I can't protect you from that; I'm not going to pretend that it's something as simple as letting you stay at my place forever. no matter how much either of us want that." Kagami's words were harsh and so was his tone, but there was something about the way he held him so firmly that said something desperate. Then, his gaze softened just a bit. "I'm not going to pretend I didn't mess up either. But, I don't ever remember letting you go. Shut up about this 'take me back' crap."

He felt like he was in shock. The way Kagami looked at him now was much more real than the one who'd told him to go away.

The warmth, the atmosphere free of tension or weight, it all felt too good to be happening to him.

"Kagami… I-, I don't…"

He couldn't think of anything to say, but he didn't have to.

In one swift moment Kagami's arms were around him and he was pulled into an embrace he thought he would never feel again. The red-head stared over his shoulder, his rough but gentle gaze looking at nothing in particular until he finally closed his eyes. He was far too busy keeping Kuroko here to let his mind wander.

"I'm sorry." He whispered into his ear and held him tighter, never wanting to let go. He took a deep breath as he felt Kuroko return it and spoke with more confidence. "Stop taking this all on yourself, you're not helping anyone by pretending you're alright."

Kuroko tensed up and silently gulped as his wide-eyed stare softened just enough. "I do not do such a thing…" Was what he said, but the slight crack in his voice betrayed him.

"Shut up already." Kagami said, wrapping his arms a little further. "You look happier when you're honest with me, Kuroko."

Kuroko grit his teeth as he felt tears burn his eyes but he didn't dare let them spill. Instead he gripped the back of Kagami's shirt and hid his face into his shoulder so that the red-head wouldn't see how his grimace was turning into a grin.

"You're so contrary, _Bakagami_."

"You're the last one I want to hear that from, _stalker-kid_."

Kuroko's shoulder's flinched as a single laugh broke through before he covered his mouth. Kagami smiled once again. His grip around the ghost softened and like a tiger he rested his head onto him with a slight nuzzle and closed his eyes.

"Kuroko. I don't just want to be 'the one that doesn't feel wrong'."

"Y… Yeah. I don't want to be just 'the stalker who stayed' either…"

"Heh." Kagami smiled, and comforted Kuroko as if he could see his regretful expression. "You're more than that. You're not like anyone I've ever met before. If I ever met someone exactly like you, I think it wouldn't be the same. I don't know what it is, but if I had to keep going thinking to myself that you're not going to be there, I don't know how long I would be able to take it."

"Kagami…" Kuroko's grip tightened on him as he embraced those words, their meaning giving him a soft smile. "I think, I understand. Basketball, dancing, I don't care what we do. It feels like everything is alright thanks to you. I never want to lose you."

With a smile Kagami wrapped his arm upwards so that he could press on Kuroko's head to bring them closer.

"I'm glad you're the one that came to me, idiot…" He said, briefly pressing his lips to the ghost's forehead. "I was at my limit…" Kagami felt an embarrassing blush rush to his face as Kuroko laughed a bit.

Kuroko opened his eyes, and found himself smiling and slowly pushed his head back so that he could look at Kagami, even if it wasn't his face. He wanted to speak, to express his deepest attachment to the tiger, but he also wanted to save some of those words. So, for now he simply rested himself against him, the elation spreading between them as they stood together at last.

Kagami took a deep breath.

"Tetsuya…"

The name felt nice rolling off his tongue. Kuroko's lips turned to a wince from the feeling that welled up with that name he and gripped his shirt tighter.

"Taiga…"

The longer they stayed together the closer they seemed to bring each other to themselves. It got to the point where they never wanted to let go.

The warmth of the season was fading slowly, but there was warmth growing that would last through the winters to come. It was a soft, tender glow that the both of them wanted to take care of; though they had a feeling with their differences it wouldn't be easy. In the end, those conflicts were something they were looking forward to. It would be a shame if taking care of it got too boring. Yes, this was a complicated, growing warmth that glowed between them.

"Can we… go to your house?" Kuroko spoke carefully, worried about breaking the moment. "I… I don't want to go home, for a while."

"Yeah." Kagami replied without a problem. "You can stay for as long as you want."

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Chapter 15: End

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Didn't I subtly poke at the fact that it might all turn out alright~?

Damn when going back to edit this I realized I could have done so much better :I I've tried my best again, but alas I simply suck at romance stuff, I much prefer the tension~ Either way I'll leave this be, since as far as I see it it's the next bonus chapter that's the real end, see you there!


	16. End

For those skipping to the end, might want to see the chapter before too :3

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Extra Chapter: Let's Keep Moving

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 **"Huuuh, sounds pretty rough."**

"Yeah, it has been rather strange these last few months. I guess in the end I can do a lot of things now that I couldn't before. I'm not engaged and I still managed to stay on the team."

 **"Plus you get to hear my epic voice again."**

Kuroko chuckled at that.

"Yeah, that too."

 **"Hey so when am I going to meet this Kagami guy anyway? Maybe we can go on a double date, haha!"**

Kuroko blushed and fiddled about with Nigou's ears idly.

"P-Please knock it off, I'm not sure about that. I want to introduce him to you and all, but I'm still sorting things out over here."

 **"Yeah yeah, you're just afraid I'm gonna steal him away from you aren't you."**

"Hm, looks like you caught me."

The voice from the other side of the phone laughed.

 **"Well either way, I gotta thank him. From what you told me I'd guess that we wouldn't be talking again without him."**

"Yes, I think not."

Kuroko smiled. He heard an 'ooooi!' from somewhere close by and looked up.

"Ah- I've got to go now."

 **"Alright, I'll text you later. Drop by when you get the chance, 'kay?"**

"I definitely will."

 **"Seeya Kuroko."**

"See you, Ogiwara-kun."

The red-head slowed his jogging speed as he got closer to the ghost. He was already pumped from warm ups and still had some spring in his step despite the captain just yelling at him not to waste too much energy.

After putting his phone in his bag, Kuroko got up and pulled the bag over his shoulder.

"You done? Coach says you gotta do extra laps for showing up late."

"I apologize, buses are quite unreliable."

"Hah! Guess your misdirection didn't help you outta that one. Anyway, we gotta get ready if we're facing that Ao-whatever guy next game."

"Yes, I'm coming now."

Kagami opened his mouth to speak again before something barked below him and grabbed his leg.

"GWaGH!"

He flailed, almost kicking his leg out but resisted with all his might to not send the puppy flying. Once he had got his cool back Kagami bent down and shooed away the dog with a frown.

"Stop scaring me like that Nigou! Jeez, you two are teaming up on me I swear."

Kuroko didn't hold back the small amount of laughter that came from the sight. Kagami smiled back once he heard that light sound. After being the puppy ran back to his heels, Kuroko gathered his things and came to Kagami's side, staring at his face for as long as he could to take in that smile.

Suddenly a shiver ran up his spine and he felt a familiar worry in his chest. When he turned round he saw it, that black car that had been following him every time he left the house. He knew it was some of the people who worked in his house but his parents insisted that they knew nothing about it, although they weren't very good at lying about this kind of stuff. The way he saw the butler in the driver's seat lazily stare at him made his heart sink and fear run through him.

He didn't see Kagami looking at him with a tired expression.

"Hurry up, coach's gonna kick our ass."

Suddenly Kuroko felt a push on his back and he was shoved in front of Kagami with a start.

"Kagami-kun…" He looked back but was swiftly pushed forward by the red-head, lighter this time.

Kagami kept him going but couldn't resist looking back himself. He had seen the black car as well, they spent enough time together after all, and when he saw it again now he felt the anger build up again. He snarled and growled but only for as long as he would let himself focus on it. Once his mind flickered back to the ghost walking in front of him he managed to just shrug it off and boredly yawn. All the while he made sure to hide Kuroko in front of him.

The smaller male allowed himself to smile once again.

"Uh- wait…" Kagami mumbled something under his breath and ruffled through his short pockets.

"What is it?"

"I lost my keys, think they're at home. I don't remember taking them. Hey, do you still have my spare pair?"

"Umm…" Kuroko jolted, trying very hard to hide his nervousness. Ah, he wasn't going to be able to avoid this was he. "Yes. I was going to give it-"

"Do you have them with you? If you do we can head to my place after~"

"…Eh?"

"Ah, but I'm hungry as heck. Majiburger first, then we can head over."

Kuroko blinked as he stared back at the seemingly cool red-head.

"Um… do, you still not want me to have them?"

All of a sudden Kagami stopped, hands still shoved in his pockets with the same honest look on his face he always had.

"No." He said. "They're your set. You can run over to my house when you have a bad dream."

A strange feeling ran through Kuroko then, it was one that he had been feeling a lot recently. It was a feeling that made him swoon, but pissed him off enough that he could keep his cool.

"Like I would do that, it would be more likely for me to come over because you're demanding a hug."

"Hahah why not both?"

Kagami grinned while Kuroko laughed along.

The red-head would never know what he thought about when they spent time like this together. How when Kuroko first caught his wild-tiger stare, when he saw the first glimpse of kindness and for the first time was really able to escape his fears, that he knew he wanted to be with Kagami for as long as he could. Plus maybe now Kagami might actually be able to help him in other ways. Apart from his parents, there were still the other miracles that they needed to defeat. Although, that was another story for another time.

Kagami was strong, courageous, hot-headed and at times unintentionally funny. He was also caring in his own way, and it was easy to tell the difference of when they first met as strangers, when he allowed him to stay the night as friends, and then that night on the beach when he first truly realized his feelings.

Thinking back, all the things he knew he wouldn't like about the other had suddenly become interesting to him. He enjoyed his time with Kagami as though it were his greatest days. As Kuroko looked up and watched their team come closer in view he realized something: there wasn't anything about Kagami he wanted to change.

He would never know that Kagami felt exactly the same way.

.

 **End**

.

* * *

What a ride this has been, but in the end Kuroko and Kagami are happily where they belong - in each other's warm embrace~

Yuck :P

I do hope this wasn't too sickly sweet but also I wonder if it isn't sweet enough, but I guess that's up to everyone to decide. Either way this is the end of Great Expectations, thank you for all who have read my piece whether to pass time or as an intense story of love and loss. Basically what I'm trying to say it, I'm terrible at goodbyes.

But fear not since this is far from goodbye! Great Expectations may be finished but as long as I have a brain to work with I will continue to write to my heart's content~ For those of you who abandoned this story a long time ago, for those who have followed it chapter by chapter, and for those who may continue to follow my stories or that I might meet in the future, goodbye, for now, and see you next year.


	17. Halloween

Suprise! A special chapter I made just for Halloween! (The best holiday, as you can dress up as monsters and no-one will judge you)

I will talk more at the end, but for now I will leave you with this extra long chapter that I call:

 **Ignis Fatuus on Kimodameshi**

(Just for note, this chapter was originally made between chapter 10 & 11~)

* * *

It wasn't like he was nervous.

He had faced things kinda like this, gone and seen the scary movies and seen the most kinky and _disturbing_ looking costumes America had to offer. It's just…

"I-Isn't this a bit excessive?"

Just the sight sent shivers up the red-head's spine.

Five gaping holes – that neither looked natural nor manmade – leading into a forest that he had never heard of before, barely any light beyond the first few trees while being aware that there were unknown horrors waiting in each of them. The fact that there were crying children begging their laughing parents to not make them go in was also kinda disturbing.

"You're not even there yet Kagami-kun, if anything this is minimal effort for the entrance." Kuroko looked almost sad for the guy.

"Minimal effort?! This is something out of a horror movie! But in real life!"

"It is a good style choice I agree, in this case I think it suits the scene more than blood and gore. You can almost imagine each of the entrances being a gateway to a hellish nightmare from which you may not return."

"Okay THANKS Kuroko, great thing to say to a first timer." Kagami hissed at him but Kuroko just seemed vaguely amused.

"You didn't have anything like this back in America did you?"

"Ugh, not at all." The red-head shook his head and put his hand to his chin. "I'm pretty sure the most I've ever done apart from trick-or-treating was go to Halloween themed parties or 'haunted houses', but in those house things there was always a guide."

"A guide? Then what would be the point?"

"So there's really no guide in this?"

"Not at all, the point is to reach the end with your own courage."

"F-Figures, yeah I should have expected that. I'm gonna go get some water…"

"Please get a bottle for me too; I'm going to get a copy of the rules for this year."

"Right…"

Jeez nothing had started and already Kagami felt like he was being left for dead.

Still the red-head sighed and split off from the calm ghost – who he had no doubt would be constantly scaring him tonight with his disappearance act. He went over to the table where they were handing out water bottles for contestants and had to convince the guy sitting there that he was just tall and not too old to be competing, (he kinda wished he was though…).

"For the last time we are not children anymore."

"Aww come ooon, we basically still count as kids! I mean when will be the next time something like this happens?"

" _Next year._ "

"Yeeeaaah, and you'll try and get out of that one too!"

"I still do not understand your need to drag me here…"

"Oh don't be so tsundere. You're the one that willingly came along when I said I didn't have a partner, Shin-chan~"

"I told you not to call me by such a ridiculous name."

As Kagami gulped down half of his bottle he couldn't help but overhear a weird conversation. But as he turned to spy on whoever it was a child also happened to be running in his direction, crying something about not wanting to meet the scary monsters. The child ran recklessly as fast as he could away from his worried mother until he tripped over a rock and rolled through the air like some kind of stunt in a comedy show. With his immense speed the child just so happened to barrel roll right into the back of Kagami's knees as he was looking to whoever was beside him, resulting in a spray of the water that had been stored in the red-head's squirrel cheeks all over a tall guy with green hair and glasses.

The three that stood there turned still, while the mother of the child awkwardly veered the little dizzy boy away from the situation.

It didn't take long before the shortest of the three, with black hair and sharp eyes, started shaking, having to cover his mouth to stop the laughter that so desperately wanted to cascade out.

"Takao, if you laugh, I will purposely shoot the ball into your head in our practice game."

Unfortunately those words only managed to break the dam holding back the laughter and soon Takao was on the floor holding his stomach.

"You- You look like you've been swimming Shin-chan! Bwahaha- what are the chances?!" He gasped and rolled and laughed while the other two stared with a soulless gaze.

Kagami just kind of stood there observing the two until he realized it was basically his fault.

"Uh, s-sorry, my bad…" He awkwardly put his hands up and tried to smile, but it didn't do much apart from draw attention to himself.

"You fool! Cant you even control yourself not to do something so rude in front of a stranger?!" The green-haired guy shook his fist at him – at least he would of if he wasn't holding a… present? It looked like a present. While Kagami was trying to figure that out, the guy just sighed and began to clean his glasses that now looked like they had been rained on. "Honestly, you'll ruin the wood on my puzzle box. My luck is only second best today so I must be in top form."

"Your… what?" Kagami raised his brow. "Were we supposed to bring cryptic stuff to this thing? Isn't this place is creepy enough…"

"Hmph, clearly you are just another person who does not entrust themselves to fate. If you're so scared then don't enter, I'm sure that this meeting occurred because of _your_ bad luck."

"Oi- I am not scared! I'm just careful that I might end up punching anyone who jumps out at me!"

"I'm sure." The green-head rolled his eyes and helped his friend off the ground, who was still trying to recover from laughing too much to reply.

"You sarcastic bastard, I'll beat whatever time you get with hours to spare."

That seemed to light the stranger's eyes.

"You think you could do such a thing with ease? You look like a newborn lamb."

"Like hell I do! If you wanna do this then I'll prove it to you! Unless you're gonna hide in the ground like a scared carrot."

The green-head's eye twitched. His friend smirked as he peeked up beside him.

"Ooo he's looking for a fight." Takao giggled and nudged his friend. "But I guess you _have_ been trying to get out of doing this for a while huh, sorry for not thinking you might be _scared_ ~"

The tag-team definitely got to the tall green-head, though he made sure it didn't look like it as he calmly pressed his glasses closer to his face.

"Honestly, wasting such time like this. I will merely participate in this childish event to show you two just how wrong you are." With that he flourished some sort of pose to better put his point across.

"Ahhh cool cool Shin-chan~ I cant wait to see how well you take the scares~"

"I said stop calling me that Takao! And they won't be scares to me!"

At first Kagami felt victorious, but suddenly had a feeling it would've been easier just to avoid these guys. He'd been meeting some weird people recently, this might turn out like the other ones…

"Then it's a race to the finish."

The three of them were surprised to hear another voice join them, but all seemed to catch on quickly enough.

"Kuroko."

"It's nice to see you again, Midorima-kun."

Kuroko stood beside Kagami with a proud stare. The green-haired Midorima pressed on his glasses again while keeping a stand-offish look.

"I'm surprised to see you here; usually you would only come to support Kise and that Ahomine."

"The event grew on me, but I'm also surprised to see you here. You only ever came because Akashi managed to drag you here and comfort you that it wouldn't be scary."

A clear shock ran up ran up Midorima's spine.

"I-Idiot! Don't give the wrong perception of me to these two, I was never scared of this event. I came here because I want to now and because I wanted to back then."

"That's not what I heard." Kagami smirked.

"News to me too." Takao followed suit.

"Tch-" Midorima practically froze up for a second, contemplating how to keep his pride. In the end he just settled for bashing Takao over the head. "Don't underestimate me. Kuroko!" He flourished a point at the smallest of the bunch, despite his friend whining at him and rubbing his head. "I'll see you at the finish line, an hour after I've passed it."

"I look forward to the outcome, Midorima-kun."

And that was the end of it. Midorima grabbed his friend and left while Kagami recovered the lid of his water bottle in hopes of no more accidents.

"You really are a tsundere one huh Shin-chan~ See you guys later! Let's have a fun, clean match!"

Takao made sure to give a wave before disappearing, getting only a nod from Kuroko and an unsure look from Kagami.

"So…"

"Another old friend, although we don't always get along."

"Both of them?"

"The black haired one is new to me."

"Ah. Well moss-head looks friendly."

"Yes he is quite the sweetheart."

"Yeah, I can tell."

Kuroko smiled, if only because Kagami managed to see that that was sarcasm, and passed him a ticket.

"After the next group are all accounted for we'll be going. Cell phones are off, no lighters or flash lights apart from the one they give us. We'll have to figure out and follow the right path to the exit. I'll let you pick which entrance we go in."

"Uh, thanks…" The red-head took the ticket and stared at it. So he gave this to someone to prove he was participating? Ugh this was confusing, he'd been treating this as Halloween so far but he just wasn't used to any of this. If his bro was there than at least he would be able to be confused with someone else… "Hey."

"What?"

"Do I look like a newborn lamb right now?"

Kuroko blinked up at him and paused. Then he poked his cheek.

"You look as cute as one."

"T-That's not what I need to hear!" Kagami was overcome with blush.

While that pair sorted themselves out, Midorima and Takao did the same on their side.

"Oh…"

"What is it Shin-chan?"

"I forgot to tell him that Akashi is entering as well. I'm sure he'll find out one way or another."

….

Now that he was actually in here, inside this creepy dark forest with poorly made gates to stop them wandering off path, it wasn't so bad. This test was for the little kids after all, can't traumatise them too much, plus they get flash lights! Although Kuroko kept telling him not to use it, which was slightly concerning.

"Flash lights are made for using in the dark! Besides there's not another tree torch for a good 10 meters, I'm not risking something grabbing at my foot."

"But it's best that you get used to the darkness now, and this is still the first half so there wont be too much that would scare either of us."

"Yeah well it's still a forest; don't wanna have to carry you when you trip over a rock or something."

"Likewise."

Either way, Kuroko was right. So far there had been spider-webs, mysterious markings on trees, mysterious blood drags on the floor, and the occasional light and sound show with one or two sheets with eyes cut out floating in front and behind them. Nothing too bad at all, apart from the sudden noises and the slamming of doors that weren't there before and the-

 **"GRAAAAYRGH!"**

Suddenly someone jumped out of the bush, running up at them and jumping like it was going to attack them. Kuroko froze up for a moment but soon the figure started laughing evily at them and he let out a breath.

"Ah that one scared me. Good job." He praised the monster who ran off back into the woods soon after. "It's more fun when people are involved, I wonder if that was a volunteer or just someone who wanted to scare- um... Kagami-kun?" Kuroko looked up to find Kagami turned into a statue. He was shaking and shivering like a soaking wet cat hiding from the rain, it kind of looked pitiful. At first Kuroko thought that maybe he had been possessed or something but then remembered it. "Ah- I suppose that person did look like a werewolf, how unfortunate."

Kuroko smiled and patted Kagami's shoulder. The red-head slowly managed to shiver back to life, still completely tense.

"D...I..It's not like I thought he was a demon dog coming to bite me, or anything..."

"Of course not Kagami-kun." Kuroko suppressed a laugh as he continued to comfort him.

"Sh-Shut up I wasn't scared dammit!"

They didn't move for a moment in order to recover, allowing someone else to predict their location. As they stood, unsuspecting, something flew through the air over the trees in a high arc. Just as Kagami had calmed down a rock from seemingly out of no-where hit him on the chest.

"WHATTHEFRRRRRRR-"

He scrambled to hold Kuroko and looked around for the perpetrator.

"Ugh- Kagami…" The crushed Kuroko tried to breath. "Calm down please, I am sure that whatever that was came from the next pathway. Midorima-kun must of thrown it when he heard you shouting about how you weren't scared." Kagami glanced at him and took a second to piece it together. Then he just silently let Kuroko go like he totally wasn't caught off guard twice in a row. The ghost coughed then brushed himself down once he'd gotten his breath back. "He can get competitive after all, I'm sure he's having a lot of fun." He smiled proudly.

"That sounds more like sadistic than competitive!"

"It's because you're being too loud Kagami-kun, you'll wake the spirits with your fear."

"Ugh, whatever." To Kuroko's surprise, Kagami grabbed his hand and stormed off in the direction they had to go. "Jump-scares don't count anyway, it's in the name!"

Kuroko just blinked and watched him for a moment before smiling again.

"Yes, you have been very brave so far."

"Stop patronising me already!"

….

The duo had passed the mid-way point, in which they had to solve an easy puzzle of 'which one of these is the very obvious key to this big strange talking door', when all of a sudden they heard a fizz.

"Wha- no way!"

Kagami shook the flash light in his hand as it started flickering and dimming until it finally fizzed out.

"Why now? What the hell?!"

"I told you Kagami-kun." Kuroko shook his head and patted him on the back. "They purposely use the batteries until they're almost empty before putting them in the flashlights, I'm surprised it actually lasted this long."

"So why didn't you tell me that specific detail?"

"Well I told you not to use the flashlight multiple times."

"I wouldn't of used it if I knew that this was going to happen!"

"But then you wouldn't be all flustered now and I would have missed out on that."

"You..."

He knew that Kuroko couldn't see but the red-head sent him the most reluctant death glare ever.

In the end Kuroko kept walking without more argument, followed closely by a worn out Kagami. All this time there had either been no scares, jump scares and a few genuinely creepy things, but the most he had seen out of Kuroko was a few looks of surprise here and there. He couldn't wait to see what made the stoic-faced ghost scared, and then he would finally have something to use for his own teasing blackmail. Jeez, this whole evening had been one-sided to the point that it just wasn't fair. Come to think of it, Kagami had never really seen him nervous or scared. He'd never seen much of anything from him really. And yet he had kissed this guy... on the beach after sunset... and was kind of going out with him... Urgh- the bastard didn't even do anything about being kissed! He just, smiled and went with it and said those stupid things - Kagami was sure that Kuroko could get away with saying anything and mean something else.

"Tch." Kagami looked away and shoved his hands into his pockets, not even bothered by the skeleton that popped out of the bushes and cackled at them.

"What's wrong Kagami-kun?" Looking up, he saw Kuroko's amused face in the light from the torch on the tree up ahead, looking back at him with that smile. "Do you want to hold my hand?"

At first Kagami just stared at him, then it turned a little bitter.

"No." He looked away again.

"Oh…"

It looked like Kuroko wasn't going to get scared anytime soon, he must have grown up with this stuff. And he came here when he was younger with his old friends, so they got to see him grow into it. Shouldn't he have the privilege of seeing Kuroko's true feelings? Like being asked to stop for a while at one of the passing lights so that he could cling to his red-headed boyfriend for a while?

 _"Kagami-k-kun…" Kuroko would shiver as he looked up to him with teary eyes. "Just for a moment, p-please?"_

 _"Yeah, don't worry about it." He would smile back and pat his head. "We can stay here for as long as you want, don't exhaust yourself."_

 _"But… the competition, you'll look bad in front of my old baka friend…"_

 _He would laugh all cool like at that._

 _"It's fine it's fine! I don't care about that. If you're not happy then I'm not happy. As long as you're close to me, I don't give a damn about anything else."_

 _"You're so cool Taiga, please hold me for a while…"_

 _"Yeah, I'll keep you warm."_

Kagami was kind of glad about there not being any light most of the time since he couldn't tell if he had a goofy smile on or not.

"Kagami-kun."

Unfortunately Kagami was brought out of his imagination by a much more stern-as-usual voice, though it wasn't as if he was totally disappointed.

"Oh right, what's up?"

He looked over to see Kuroko pointing ahead at a mass of lights.

"We're close to the end, I guess it's a lot shorter than what I remember."

"Well you're older now right? But you probably guessed it was gonna be like this when you went last year."

"Oh…" Kuroko started walking again as he paused. "I didn't go last year."

"Huh? I thought grass-head talked like you and your friends went every year? Did something come up?"

"We didn't… we…"

Suddenly the stern voice sounded reluctant for the first time. Kagami stared at Kuroko, who for some reason seemed at a struggle to speak, like he was finally beginning to see another part of him. But before he could get suspicious the lights behind them went out and the lights ahead started flickering wildly as a weirdly strong wind blew through.

"Woah- that's creepy, what the heck?"

"Kagami, are you okay?"

"Yeah- wait I cant see you!"

"I can't see you either. Head to the flickering blue lights where I am, we're close to the exit so we should be able to just go through!"

"Right!"

Their footsteps were loud thuds as they headed for the flickering lights up ahead, activating all the scares in fast forward mode like it was some kind of surreal horror scene. But after the longest minute of his life Kagami broke into the light – just as the very same lights stopped flickering altogether.

"Phew, man that was just creepy. I guess they wanted to end it with a bang huh Kuro-"

He looked around.

There was no-one.

"ko…"

He blinked, staring into the empty space before him. Then he looked behind him and called his name. No reply or anything. The guy really was a ghost.

Silence.

It was the first time all evening he had really stopped to think, although he had been doing that in bits during the awkward silence between those two. It was a strangely warm night with the wind blocked by the thick mass of trees. When sucked out of the creepy atmosphere, the place just seemed kind of lonely.

Suddenly Kagami was dragged out of his thoughts when the silence was drowned out by sounds of chatter and music from the direction where they were going.

"Oh-"

Didn't he say something about the end? Did he mean 'just go through to the end'?

"You've got to say what you mean, idiot…"

Kagami clicked his tongue sighed as he set off to run past the final scares and catch up with his ghost. Honestly, the guy just leaves him every other second, like he doesn't even want to stay with him. Whatever happened last year, it probably meant Kuroko was off this sort of stuff or something, which means Kagami was just there to bring back nostalgia of going to this event with his friends.

In that case, there wasn't any reason at all that Kuroko asked him to come rather than anyone else.

"Dammit..."

….

Predictably they didn't get first place, but hey he couldn't see grass-head around here. As Kagami came out of the tunnel it felt like a cave had opened up into a savannah desert. There were bonfires past the exit signs where people were just hanging out for the evening to stargaze, as well as tables for anything scared participants might need. There were signs and ropes to direct people towards the place to finish the trial, and a bucket of flash lights that people had worn out – as well as a table next to it where they were running the batteries flat of those that hadn't been run down yet. Kagami felt victorious, sure, but it felt a little off without his partner there.

He approached the lady with the medals with a smile but was soon halted.

"Heya pal, weren't there supposed to be more of you? We only got one single for this row and he's passed through already."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, my partner's not with me."

"Sorry guy but you gotta be together to pass the finish line, ditching each other don't show no courage."

"But, didn't he..."

Kagami took another look around and realized that it wasn't just that he didn't notice Kuroko when he came out; there was _no-one else_ in the finishing area but him.

Then he pieced it together.

 _"I can't see you either. Head to the flickering_ _ **blue**_ _lights where I am, we're close to the exit so we should be able to just go through!"_

Kagami turned his head.

There were **red** torch lights down the path.

"Shit-!"

Scaring the staff that were hanging around – and against their warnings and offers to help him – Kagami ran to the table and grabbed a working flash light, switched it off and ran back inside the exit he had come from.

There weren't any spooks or scares this time but he felt more pressure than he had done all evening, running back through the foliage with the speed of a tiger. Along the way he looked both sides, cursing the wind when he found nothing at all. Then he got past the mass of lights and just barely avoided tripping himself over.

"It has to be-!"

There was a strange swerving path just before the mass of lights - it was the only way they could have separated.

Breathless, Kagami turned on the flashlight and prayed for its battery life as he made his way down the path. It went downhill, through holes in the bushes and squeezed through massive trees. It only just barely counted as a path, more like a route that had been made by adventurous bystanders. He stopped when he heard a twig snap that was not under his own feet.

Gulping, he swerved the light in slow motion around him until finally he shined it on a ghost.

"Kuroko!"

He ran up to him, the smaller teen covering his eyes from the sudden brightness until Kagami grabbed him.

"Damn that was a close one, I seriously thought you'd run off on me! Come on let's get back and-"

"Why..."

He was suddenly cut off.

Kagami jerked as he heard the sudden higher pitched version of Kuroko's voice.

"Why did... you, abandon me?"

Kuroko's voice was shaking terribly, just like his body. Kagami could feel it through his sleeves as the ghost slowly clung to him.

"A, Abandon?"

He gulped, begging his mind not to realize how like a possessed little girl this person grabbing him was.

"Why…" Kuroko took a shaky breath and pressed his head into Kagami's chest. He spoke so quiet that the red-head wasn't sure of the words he heard. "I… Thought you were… Different…"

Kagami's eyes widened.

This was it. This was the scariest freaking thing he had experienced. Kagami didn't know what to think, a shaking Kuroko was clinging on his arms until it was painful while drawing closer and closer to him like some kind of close-to-down zombie. This wasn't the guy he knew.

"O-Oi Kuroko, what the heck are you saying?!" He finally snapped, grabbing Kuroko by the shoulders and shaking some sense into him. "I thought _you_ abandoned _me_ ya bastard! Stop acting so crazy and let's get out of here before the battery on this thing runs out!" He stopped shaking him but didn't let go, vaguely seeing Kuroko's head lift but not getting much more of a reaction. He drew in a deep breath. "I don't know what happened back there, but this was an accident. I know the direction I came from so we can easily get back and out, alright? We'll both be fine."

Kuroko didn't say anything. He just stood there, clinging to Kagami for dear life for another second. Then he just let go and stepped back.

"Sorry..."

His voice was so light and frail, it wretched at Kagami's heart. The red-head carefully brought the light up to view Kuroko leaning against the tree just as he was moving his hands away from his tearful, shining blue eyes. He felt his heart skip a beat.

"I am very sorry, for making those accusations." Kuroko had got his voice back somewhat and was obviously trying to keep a straight face. He stood without confidence and he couldn't hold his stare on anything but a nearby tree. "You probably didn't do it on purpose, I-"

Now it was Kuroko's turn to have his words stop in his throat. His entire body froze as he was suddenly taken into an unfamiliar embrace by the much taller, much broader, much _warmer_ male. Kagami wrapped his arms around him and brought him close, his hold strong but gentle.

"You seriously need to stop talking like that. I like it when you say what you really want to."

Kagami's eyes moved away from what little he could see of Kuroko's frail form. He knew the ghost would hate for him to see him like this.

Kuroko's eyes were wide, he was unable to find what to do in this situation. He had never been caught like this before, and honestly never expected to be. He wanted to say that he kept his cool and stayed straight and stoic, but he was melting into the warmth. Such a strange feeling he had barely felt before.

"I..." He finally managed to breathe out, lifting a hand to grasp Kagami's shirt. "Rarely don't say what's on my mind."

"I can tell. But there's a lot I think would be healthy for you to say."

Kuroko's gaze settled as Kagami moved his head to fit on top of his own.

"Yeah... Maybe you're right."

Even in the dead of night, in an unknown forest, with knowledge that they were off the right path, this moment felt the most comfortable that either of them had experienced for a long time.

Until a little fizz ruined the moment.

"..."

"..."

"...Shit."

Kagami moved away a bit to click at the flashlight and wave it about. Yep, battery was dead.

"You should have-"

"I should have turned it off I got it."

Kuroko leaned against Kagami with a tired smile.

"Hey, Kagami?"

"Yeah?"

"I want... to stay like this. Just for a moment, please?"

Kagami blinked in surprise, then smiled and closed his eyes.

"Sure. For as long as you want." He nodded and got comfortable with him. "Kuroko?"

"Hm?"

"You know, it's okay to be scared."

Kuroko took a moment to pause, then got comfortable and closed his eyes as well.

"I know." He lied.

….

It wasn't easy getting back to the path after they had run out of light, but every time one of them tripped or slipped the other would be there to keep them from harm. It wasn't long until they were heading down the path again, looking a little messed up. They chatted a little, joked about what had happened the whole evening, jeering each other on as friends. Somewhere down the line Kuroko had nervously slipped his hand into Kagami's, of course he didn't let the other see his expression as he did. Still, Kagami held it with good grace.

"3rd place, not bad."

"I am honestly surprised, I thought I had kept us there for a long while."

"Kinda felt like a good way to spend eternity didn't it." Kagami laughed and tussled the smiling ghost's hair.

Somewhere in the distance a green-headed 2nd placer was glaring at them for still being happy despite losing.

"Look on the bright side Shin-chan, your prediction today was right! Second place luck for a second-place winner heheh."

"Shut up Takao. And don't tell anyone why we took that break."

"Your secret fears are under lock and key!"

The medal woman came back to the light and shadow pair with their 3rd place medals and a smile on his face.

"Here you go, congrats on third place. I told your problems to the tech guys who're gonna fix it up for the next bunch to come in."

"Thank you." Kuroko nodded. "It was very hard to see the light from where I got stuck, if my partner had not come and got me I could have easily been injured trying to get back."

"Yeah always got to be careful. But you know it's kinda strange…" The woman crossed her arms and shook her head. "There weren't meant to be no separate paths that weren't blocked off down this close to the exit, especially one that could be dangerous. And to be honest putting up fire torches in a forest causes a lot of problems, so the ones to keep you on the right path are electrical and aren't meant to flicker all at once."

Kagami and Kuroko looked to each other surprised.

"But, if that wasn't a path then where did those blue lights come from?" Kuroko blinked.

"Actually, I didn't see any blue lights on the way back to find you; I just guessed by instinct that you had run down that path." Kagami shrugged.

"Really?"

The medal giver shrugged along with them.

"Well the point is you're fine, get on down over there and have yourselves a midnight snack as a congrats for your courage."

At the mention of food Kagami perked up immediately and grabbed his partner.

"Thanks for everything bye!"

And off they went.

"Man I'm starving after all of that, let's grab some grub!"

"Ah- wait a second, I want to see the leader board."

"Hah? We already know we came third for this one, and grass-head's over there if you wanna find out how hard they beat us."

"I know, but I'm curious."

"Ugh, fine." Kagami let him go and jogged off to the food tables. "I'll grab you whatever you might like!"

"Thank you!"

Watching him go, Kuroko placed his own hand where Kagami's just was without thinking and wandered off to the board where they were writing down his and his partner's name.

 **'5th round, 3rd place: Kagami Taiga, Kuroko Tetsuya'**

Nothing interesting here. What he was looking for was for anyone else he recognised. He quickly found Midorima's name, and also two other things.

 **'5th round, 1st place: Akashi Seijuro'**

 **'Overall current best time: Akashi Seijuro'**

Just one name, no team mates. He didn't find anything else.

Kuroko paused.

"I'm not surprised."

He shrugged it off with a sigh and began walking back to the food table where he could already see Kagami with a stuffed face as he filled a couple of plates.

He really was glad that Kagami came back for him, the red-head had been acting strange close to the end there. It was cute to see him flustered, but he was afraid his partner was getting bored since Kagami didn't seem to be scared most of the time. But in the end, getting to see him act kinda cool was probably the best part.

Still, he was sure he saw blue lights leading down the path, not those red ones.

Kuroko stopped for just a second and looked back to the hole from which they escaped.

"How strange."

* * *

I hope you guys like this special made chapter, and I really mean it cause I scrapped 2 other versions of this chapter and wrote this one on Halloween day ;u; The first two felt like more of an excuse to include other characters, then I remembered this gem of a Japanese tradition! This way I got to show a little more of the main characters to you lovely people and also to each other, with just a tad of relevance of story along the way too~

Shout out to the guest reviewers who made my day with their comments, and of course to everyone who might read this too! And thank you all so much for reading, writing this fic and knowing at least some of you enjoy it has brought me a lot of happiness :D

See you all next time! Goodbye and happy spooking!


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